Caged World
by Ezequiel Kirishiki
Summary: He had accepted that he was a dream, and had failed to fight for his existence, but when Haise wakes up in a world where a different kind of monsters have brought humanity to the verge of extinction and a series of events lead him to join forces with the few who dare to strike back, the former investigator searches for answers while fighting for, what he thinks, is the same cause.
1. Prologue: The Arrival

**Well, hello everyone, I am Ezequiel Kirishiki and welcome you to a small sample of an [Absolutely niggardly] idea that I have had in mind since [I saw that the TG and SNK Crossovers are in short supply] long ago.**

 **I have read several works on the subject and the truth is that it is quite disappointed with the amount of these since it seems to me that both series, which in themselves are quite notorious, do not have as much attention when you have tried to combine them, it is more, me It is surprising that hardly anyone has tried to do this before.**

 **Anyway, for the fans/followers/readers of my Naruto Fic 'Path of the Whirling Shadow', I know that it is very likely that the reason has not released the new chapter and the reason it's a bit linked to this.**

 **I ended up having some Writer's Block in the middle of the chapter so I decided to leave it as it was and concentrate on something more while waiting for it to end, which if my calculations are not wrong should end in a week.**

 ***Dodges a wave of rotten tomatoes ***

 **I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it seemed to me that this was the best alternative, you have nothing to fear that it will end up abandoned or in hiatus since I promised myself to finish that project completely even if it takes me years. Although it's funny because I'll probably already over 20 when PoWS is done.**

 **In short, this is only a kind of test, depends on the number of reactions I see after the publication will decide whether to continue or not.**

 **I hope I can do it is much easier to use this literary style.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Ghoul :Re nor Shingeki no Kyojin or anything related with both the Anime and Manga, all those are the property of their respective authors (Sui Ishida and Hajime Isayama).**

* * *

 **Caged World.**

 **Prologue: Haise's Rebelion.**

* * *

Location: Rooftop of the Lunatic Eclipse Building - Eight Ward of Tokyo.

Pain.

Sharp, penetrating pain was all he could feel, both internal and external.

That was all he could feel as his body swayed in the air before crashing into one of the nearby steel pillars.

The investigator spat blood as he felt that his spine had probably suffered a break from the impact and tried to sit up, receiving in return a sharp kick in the stomach, courtesy of his insane attacker with the horribly mutilated face that delighted in punishing him with numerous blows with the toe of his or her shoe on various parts of his body while he or she perjured and perjured.

 **"I will be loved! I will be loved!"** Shrieked the now-identified feminine and horribly guttural voice as a sinister smile sketched on her seamed face and continued to torment him, causing some blood splatter around both.

 _'Blood ...'_ Haise thought barely consciously because of the immense pain that tortured his body exposed to similar martyrs, even his amazing resilience was not enough in that situation. He felt something wet running down his face until it came to his lips. _'My skull's split and I taste honey.'_

His right arm felt distant, and there was no sign of his hand, which had been brutally amputated moments before by his attacker and had come to the empty space while Yukimura 1/3, his faithful quinque was on the other side of the roof, completely out of reach. Or at least for him.

Haise heard some chuckles from the Owl, he could not see the mossy silhouette of the monstrous kakuja, but he knew that it must be somewhere on the heights, watching the spectacle with interest.

predecessor, the Tsukiyama heir was out there too, huddled around the corner not understanding how his little empire had turned upside down and now he was surrounded by three of the Ward's most dangerous beings.

Well, four if you could count the abomination his students were dealing with at the time. He still remembered the last transmission he had heard from Shirazu before he was assaulted by the Owl and his servant.

 _"Sassan ... How ... How are things on your end?"_

He had not felt any good when he had received that, but before he could respond, the leader of the Quinx Squad had gotten ahead of him.

 _"Itou Squad ... Well, Kuramoto is severely wounded."_

That had immediately put him in alarm and he had thought to abort the assignment of the Special Class Ui and go to the lower floors to support those who were trapped there, both his students and the squadron of Hairu and Associated Special Class Kijima. Ito was a First Class Investigator and the rest fo his squad plus the Qs were no pushovers.

 _"We're fighting a ghoul here ... Saiko's okay, I'm not sure about the rest ..."_

Haise had already submitted the Tsukiyama heir and was ready to obtain his surrender so that he could go with the Qs to face the threat when he heard something that made his blood run cold.

 _"Quinques are not doing anything to this guy ... Even Nuts is useless ... I ... Sassan ..."_

Unfortunately, he never had an opportunity to answer, since it was in that moment that he felt a sharp pain in his right arm followed by the noise of Yukimura clinking against the ground, his hand was no longer and his place was occupied by a bloody wrist.

He had been beaten by the monstrous Rinkaku of his attacker and pierced, only to end up being brutally grabbed by the neck and threatened to fall into the abyss.

Even being a ghoul, even with his surprising regenerative ability, could not save him from certain death there.

The painful memory of his training in the 0 Division had been the trigger that allowed him to be able to break free of that uncomfortable position and win the upper hand over his opponent.

He did not like to be pierced, but he liked to pierce. Serpent could offer testimony about it in case someone wanted confirmation.

He had finished submitting the servant and was somewhat astonished by his regeneration, a certain skill that he seemed to have seen in the past. He had been willing to finish off his fallen opponent only to be stopped by the Tsukiyama heir who seemed to plead for the defense of the alluded who only limited himself to murmuring unintelligible passages.

It was a terrible mistake to have hesitated at that moment, for a huge crunch on the heights ended up revealing the immense nightmare of several CCG investigators. A colossus of cyclops proportions and monstrous features, enormous jaws repelled by rows of sharp fangs but above all, a huge black eye that was fixed on him before an avian scream emerged from its guttural throat.

The One-Eyed Owl.

A single beat of his two scimitar-like blades that sprang from its deformed shoulders had been enough to send him against the wall as it roared again and revealed the true face of the most feared Ghoul by the CCG.

The ghoul had proceeded with taunting him about his failures to be close to Arima's level and about his mental instability only to encourage his 'servant' to finish work.

And now he was in that position, feeling as his conscience was unable to withstand all this physical pain and his eyes closed, only for when he opened them, appear in a place too familiar and funereal.

An industrial-like realm with numerous metallic pipes and ladders, disturbingly familiar to the laboratories of the 4th Ward. Haise stood headfirst on the floor which imitated the pattern of a chessboard.

 _'Shi-ra ... zu ... Everyone ...'_

Then he only felt like the bizarre realm that formed his conscience was distorted until he felt how his body was lying on the chess-like pattern, except that this time he was not alone.

In front of his head was a very familiar face. Traits somewhat definite and childlike, gray sleepy eyes, hair as white as snow, but a smile that conveyed pure mock pity.

It was him. The manifestation of his past self.

The Ghost of the Past Christmas.

The childish manifestation inclined his head slightly to the side as if he were inspecting a dying and sick animal. Even with the morbid curiosity that a child should definitely not have, especially one with such an angelic appearance.

What a pity that It was all but innocent.

The manifestation laughed, it was a high-pitched sound that ran through Haise's spine like an infernal chill.

 **"... Ah, you ..."**

 _'I cannot breathe,'_ Haise thought faintly before trying to free himself only to be stopped by the sinister voice of the mental entity. _'At this rate...I'_

 **"You're a baby suffocating inside his own bottle..."** Calmly stated the white-haired boy, **"Say..."**

 **"Weren't you going to save me?"** He finished sending a gaze that reflected pure pity towards the First Class Investigator still lying on the floor.

He continued with taunting him with all sorts of hurtful comments making disregard of the young man's attempts to get up, even approaching a little more, which resulted in a ideas mistake since Haise, even though he was weak, was still considered a prodigy for a reason.

The only available hand of Haise closed around the neck of the boy and threw him to the ground while trying to choke him in an effort to shut him off. He no longer cared about it, he just wanted to shut up at least that inner demon which had inhabited his mind several years.

The chess pattern was filled with cracks as if it were glass and began to fall off, while numerous white flowers began to sprout from the floor and covered it completely while huge cubes with the same pattern of chess levitated imposing above the two.

"Quiet." Snapped Haise while applying much more force to his hand. The childlike manifestation struggled to breathe but instead, just grinned.

 **"Die,"** he replied through agonizing breaths, **"Die!"** He repeated with much more intensity to which Haise did not seem to take importance because he only applied much more force while its expression degenerated, even more, showing that its control was collapsing.

"You die, Kaneki." Answered Haise with all the venom he could express through speech. "Just die, just die me."

 **"Yes, we must die ..."** Continued the child as his expression became a true euphoria with hints of cruel humor. "My salvation ... Your salvation .." He coughed when he felt pressure again his neck.

Haise's response consisted in continuing to try to choke him while the familiar silhouette of the Kakugan manifested in his left eye showing the features of complete losing the fragile sanity in which he tried to balance.

 **"I don't want to be happy!"** Stated the childish manifestation with a shriek.

"Just die and disappear." Replied Haise while the crimson blood limbs of the kagune crawled from behind and approached, ready to pierce through the skull of the down manifestation.

 **"Yes, yes, that's it!"** Excitedly exclaimed his past-self at the sight of the predatory appendages. **"Kill me! Kill me!"**

But it was one last exclamation that made Haise stop and feel the blood in his veins turn to ice.

 **"I SHOULD HAVE DIED THAT DAY!"**

Haise only looked in horror as the darkness took possession of the eyes of the manifestation while a truly maniac expression was drawn on his face, seeing that thing with the appearance of a child excited by the mere idea of dying was something that bordered on the limits of the perverse.

The manifestation arose as his hands crossed his cheeks and his mouth opened revealing a black and bottomless pit.

 **"Yes Haise, that's right, kill me, kill me."**

Spoke the mental horror while the white flowers around them turned into spider lilies with the same color of the blood a field of flowers disturbingly familiar to him.

 **"Kill me, kill me, die, Haise, die me."** He said taking some steps towards him with the same maniacal expression drawn on his face.

Haise stepped back as his kagune retracted and his kakugan disappeared, leaving him vulnerable to the present entity in front of him, images slowly began to pass through his mind as a flash of recognition crossed his face which was noticed by the other.

An expression of anguish began to draw on his face as his eyes widened in response to all the knowledge he was seeing.

"N-no," he weakly tried to deny, "I-it c-cannot be."

 **"That's right shithead,"** Spoke the ghoulish manifestation, this time with active kakugan, **"Do you remember, don't you?"**

 _"A foolish begging, young one."_

Haise received the pure shock impact as he received a wave of memories about it. All those forgotten memories began to flow through his mind. He saw his childhood forgotten, not under the name he had received, under his true.

A living room, the silhouette of a child no more than seven years old huddled against the floor while receiving one blow or another beaten by a woman with the same hair and a pair of glasses, looks annoyed, but his expression was nothing in comparison with the one he saw in the child.

That hair, those features.

 _'N-no ...'_ Thought Haise completely paralyzed.

The manifestation, without any of the ominous characteristics, said his thoughts aloud.

 **"I really was beat a lot by the people I loved the most."**

 _"Mommy, I'm sorry...I..I don't need...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"_ Cried the memory still receiving a slap. _"I don't need it anymore! I'm sorry, I won't ask for anything, I'm sorry, I'm sorry"_

Haise kept trembling, even as he felt the floor disappear at his feet only fell on his knees as he experienced every single second of memory in his own skin.

 _'I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry_ **I'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'MSORRY'**

And it did not stop there, other scenes took its place and none of them more pleasant than the other. He saw himself covering Fueguchi's eyes before a woman in front of her was quartered by a too-familiar quinque, as was the researcher who was holding him. He saw it as it was in a camera similar to a gigantic cage being subjected to appalling torments by a huge man with a mask that Haise immediately recognized.

 _"P-Pl .. please .. I do not feel my fingers ... N-don't pluck them anymore! .."_

He felt a hand on his shoulder as the next memory passed. A gigantic chamber or subterranean tunnel with several columns rising, a pasture maintained pride in the ground but outside of all that, there was no trace of any presence.

 **"I really loved mommy"** He heard the voice of his past self from a distance, it was loaded with grief and bitterness. Soon there appeared the familiar silhouette that seemed to be admiring the field of flowers that was in that chamber.

 **"Hey, I was happy!"** He exclaimed like an ordinary child at an attraction. **"Back then, in that underground flower field...I got to meet the Reaper!"**

Haise watched in horror as he had been subjected to the overwhelming power of Arima in that chamber, as all the strength he had acquired had been useless at the time. But he was more horrified to hear the chuckles of his counterpart who seemed to be watching the scene as an old family home-made video.

 **"And then, like the [Maggot] mommy was,"** continued the white-haired child with the same bitter tone, **"I too..."** He said while bitterly staring at Arima's IXA.

 **"But I messed it up,"** he continued. **"I didn't die."**

The landscape began to change slowly until the huge cubes with the chess pattern disappeared and were replaced by a huge metal tower with a kind of bench of the same material at the top. Bench in which the two were sitting while the city surrounded them.

Haise was in denial about it. From that day when he knew that his memories would come back, he knew it was going to be painful, he knew that his past had many dark secrets, but he could not imagine it on such a scale.

Had his brief attention even made sense? How was he supposed to continue to live with the weight of his conscience, preventing him from even breathing? How should he feel if the chains of his sins kept him firmly bound? Horrors of his past? Had it all been genuine? Even? Anyone? Anyone? **Anyone?Anyone?Anyone?Anyone?Anyone Anyone?Anyone? Anyone?**

He merely asked about something he already knew, he needed it, just to hear the confirmation. The truth always hurts after all.

"Did ... I want to die?"

Ken Kaneki, or at least what was left of him, trapped in the childish form, nodded as his feet hit the bench underneath.

 **"Definitely ..."** He nodded, **"That's why I ... Yes."** He stared at the emptiness with something akin to pure bliss.

Realization hit Haise like a hammer when he understood the hidden message left by him, or at least his past one.

 _"Your salvation was but sleep and sweet dreams."_

Haise paled as he ran with his only hand his bicolor hair which remained covered with some blood as a result of his wounds inflicted on the skull. Her eyes seemed to be bloodshot, and they on to be on the verge of tears.

Ken looked at him with an empty expression before continuing. **"This time ... Make sure ... To do something that will allow you to be loved by everyone."**

Haise did not seem to pay any attention to him as he stared out into the black abyss that lay just below them.

 _'All my existence was just that? Was I ever real? Were at least all the things that I committed several times to follow the orders of my superiors meant to be worth?_

 **"A good thing, a bad thing, it does not matter."** Continued Ken with a genuine smile forming on his face. **"And after that, you see ..."**

The white-haired boy turned to look at him directly and smiled.

 **"I want to die in style!"**

Haise looked at him with the same empty expression directed toward the moments before. "Will that be ..." _'I'm a sweet dream ...'_ "Will that be our salvation?" _'Once the sleep falls from my eyes and I begin to cry it's all over ...'_

 **"Yes."** Replied Ken from his place looking like an inmate being freed from his cell.

"What ... What do you mean?" Asked Haise trying to negate the comprehension between both selves.

The one with the white hair did not pay attention to him and asked in turn. **"So, can you manage it?"**

Haise looked at him with some pity as he felt the blood spurt from his skull rise up to his cheek, one of the strands of hair had turned completely black as a result.

He felt like a powerful melancholy was taking over. All these memories were resurfacing one by one, they were no longer random scenes with such brutal content that they would probably make the interrogators of Kokuria look like saints in comparison.

It made sense. He had seen too much darkness in the world, he had experienced it even in his own flesh. Reality inflicted infinite suffering through power, power itself led to the desire for conflict, whether by hunger as most ghouls did, by defense as the CCG, by ideals like the Aogiri, or simply because of the sake of it, like those of the Clowns. But the lack of power led to the loss of everything.

But that had not been enough, he had already seen it in some of the memories. Not even he, despite all the power that he had obtained, that had not been enough.

It had not been enough,It had not been enough, It had not been enough, It had not been enough **It had not been enoughIt had not been enoughIt had not been enough,It was not enough,it was not enough,It was not enough,it was not enough,It was not enough,it was not enough.**

Somewhere along the way, he had mistakenly started once again to desire that. Giving himself completely into the dark and letting the merciless reality wake him up, he felt as he was changing, all the memories that had belonged to Ken Kaneki were completely entering his.

But memories are the quintessence of identity, and they are what form the experiences that in turn are in charge of forming the identity. And Haise Sasaki, First Class Investigator, a former member of Division 0 and current mentor of Quinx Squad, had no such experiences.

Now he understood, that enormous despair and desire to die of his predecessor, How to live after that? There was simply no way to be able to rest peacefully after those sights.

Haise watched as his own memories began to appear before his eyes, from the day Arima Kishou had allowed him to choose a new name in Kokuria, going through the years in which he had been under his command in the 0 Division along with Koori Ui and Hairu Ihei, his rise through the ranks of the CCG and his assignment as mentor for the Quinx. His days with his pseudo-family fulfilling different investigations and assignments, the confrontation against Serpent, the Nutcracker investigation, the assault on the Auction, his promotion to First Class [And the faces of those who were biased against his nature]. And strangely also the current assault against the Tsukiyama Family.

'Is this how it ends?' Haise closed his eyes as he watched as the darkness itself was enveloping him. _'I was just a good dream so I could get away from it all ... I'm sorry guys'_ He kept thinking of all those he considered his friends, from his own squad to his mentor and friends that he had made from all his career.

Haise peacefully closed his gray eyes as he let a bitter smile decorate his lips. _'I just wish I could have dreamed a little more ...'_

But then, one of his memories came to the rescue. That conversation with Shirazu during the Nutcracker investigation.

 _"If your memories return, would you quit being an investigator?"_

It was at that moment, in which his own memories began to take the place of the [Invaders]. All those memories, both bad and good, all those sorrows, those insecurities and doubts about himself, but also those joyful experiences, those good memories.

That was his, and no one could ever take it away.

 _'No ...'_ Haise thought, ' _Although I am nothing more than a dream, everything I lived outside of Ken Kaneki's statement was real.'_ He began to squirm, trying to free himself from the darkness that was consuming him.

 _'I do not care about the wishes of a dead ... I want ... to live ...'_

Ken watched Haise's reaction and nodded with a neutral expression before approaching to join his forehead with his, he was also going to disappear, his purpose was complete.

His body was going to become whatever it was that turned out to be when the memoirs had finished assimilating. He just hoped he could fulfill his last will.

He could not help but startle when he saw Haise's eyes suddenly open, and his dark hair began to retract until the roots were left alone. He saw with surprise how even the blood of his wounds began to recede as though he had never existed.

Haise stared at him before saying what Ken had never expected.

"No."

 **"What do you mean, no?!"** Exclaimed confused the manifestation with all the possible poison he was able to express his voice. He was supposed to be completely unpacked, the memories must have left him at the edge of the abyss, it was supposed ...

"I know what you're thinking," Haise began, looking at him quizzically, "I got _your_ memories, but I didn't accept them."

Now it was the turn of the manifestation to go into shock.

 _ **'Is he in denial? Nonetheless? Impossible!'**_

 **"You cannot reject me, Haise, you do not even exist!"** Exclaimed the demonstration trying to demoralize him, he needed it to clear to be able to finish with everything, a mere false copy wasn't going to prevent it.

"Maybe," Haise continued, sighing slightly, "Maybe this is not my body, I may have lived a life without memories, but that's the point."

At the confused look of the demonstration, Haise sighed before facing him.

"It's my LIFE TOO!"

The manifestation coughed blood as the tip of a kagune emerged below the bank impaling him right in the stomach. His eyes fluttered at that.

 **"Since when do you know to separate your kagune ...?"**

Haise smiled. "I learned many things from your memories." He commented while the tip slowly disintegrated obeying the commands of the user. "And this is my mind now, I control everything that happens here."

 **"I wouldn't be so sure."** Answered Ken as his sinister smile reappeared. And seeing Haise's confused expression, Ken merely confined his questions to him.

 **"Only you rejected our memories, how arrogant you are to think that Haise Sasaki is a large part of us."**

 _'Why the hell is he talking in the plural?'_ Haise thought, _'Well, it doesn't matter, I must hurry to help them and-'_

He coughed blood and looked down only to see a kind of skeletal arm of the same color of blood flowing from his own belly. The limb began to move before another of the same size emerged from the wound and began to tear the flesh around.

 _'W-what ... is this ...?'_ He tried to deduce before a sharp pain claimed his belly and it opened revealing a torrent of blood and viscera from which a humanoid mass emerged.

 _'Black/ **Black** '_ It was what both Haise and Ken thought about seeing the newcomer at one and the same time, he was a bit higher than the first but much more impressive. Completely dressed in black and with a hair of the same color of obsidian. One arm gleamed for his absence, just like Haise's, but from his back sprouted one with the same skeletal crimson form.

Ken seemed euphoric to see him and tried to say something before another tentacle emerged from the back of the newcomer and brutally beheaded. The white-haired boy's head rushed down the abyss to the full darkness, but Haise could still see the smile on his face.

'Too fast,' Haise thought as he held his open belly as he squeezed in pain, his regeneration had begun to repair the damage and the pain began to disappear slowly as did the deep wounds.

'Blessed be my regenerative capacity' He thought as he tried to sit up as well as not draw the attention of the other. 'If I can get through it quickly, I probably will not need to fight,' continued the Investigator, while he was noticed his severed hand, 'Not that I'm in the best condition to offer any resistance.'

 _ **"Don't move."**_ It was the raspberry and feral response he received from the other. Haise stopped short while his hand went straight for Yukimura's hilt before he remembered that he no longer had it.

The other turned to allow Haise to have a clear view of his face and what he saw did not like anything. A face as definite as his own, one that completely reflected all the primal instinct that carried inside him, the activated Kakugan and the black veins that traveled part of his face accentuated, even more, those demonic features. A furious smile that soon seemed to become a hungry one.

Haise did not waste any time and released one of his tentacles quickly that ended up stabbing the stomach of the demonic manifestation. He gave a grunt of disapproval and broke the kagune with a forceful blow, which caused Haise's eyes to open wide.

 _'He's strong'_ He thought before he felt a slight cut in his left arm that forced him to turn and look with horror something he did not expect. His left arm was not there either, just as his right hand had been crooked roughly.

He did not have time to mourn the loss of his arm because the same or kagune stabbed his torso, causing multiple threads of blood to emerge from the cut of the cloth and the skin. Haise growled in pain as he tried to stand up just to see how the skeletal limb ripped a small metal pole from the structure and held it.

"..What ... do you plan ... to do ..?" Tried to ask Haise as the blood flowed from his mouth and lifted his head to face the other who only just watched him sadistically while raising his skeletal limb.

 _ **"Shut the hell up."**_ He stated before brutally nailing the tube into Haise's right eye. The blood splashed on his face but he did not seem to care as he pushed the tube further in, which caused a moan of pain from the investigator.

The other effortlessly eluded the impacts of two tentacles that sprouted from Haise's back and deflected the third with his kagune-arm demonstrating how sharp was his.

Haise continued sending the two tentacles to attack his opponent and then with a third removed the metal tube of his eye leaving an empty and bloodied socket behind. Then he noticed that his tentacles were pursuing nothing because there was no sign of the other.

"Where did he g-?" Mumbled Haise before he heard something like he cut the air and watched as the tip of a tentacle sprang from his belly and lifted him up.

"Agh" Coughed Haise, as he watched as the fully began to take on the shape of a half-dozen hands sliding toward him, immobilizing him quickly. Before realizing it, the tentacles that had him impaled raised him lightly before brutally throwing him to the floor of the metal bench causing a creak in the metal.

Haise had already experienced being impaled several times, the worst had been the S-rate he had managed to subdue almost two years ago, but what he was feeling at that time almost make him miss the past one.

Haise raised his head weakly and faced the sinister silhouette in front of him.

"Is...It...You?" He asked knowing what was going to happen if the other confirmed his question.

The Black Reaper seemed to stare at him, although it was hard to see since his hair was hidden in his eyes.

 _ **"Yeah,"**_ he replied after a few seconds before thundering one of his fingers. That crack brought new memories to Haise who tried hard to block them with his that wasn't the only thing that cracked because he ended up noticing how the kagune that had him impaled began to wrap around him as if were a kind of cocoon.

 _ **"Goodnight, Haise."**_ Stated the other while his eyes revealed themselves with an amber-like glow strangely familiar to an owl _**"No more dreaming, no more waking. I've enough of dreaming."**_

And without warning, he lifted the tentacle and fluttered Haise into the abyss freeing him from his bindings. The silhouette of this one began to lose itself in the darkness as it descended.

Haise watched as the metal structure slowly disappeared into the distance, and as the great darkness, the one that was about to consume it fully, last time surrounded it completely.

The investigator only limited himself to close his eyes while a bitter smile decorated his face for the last time.

 _'It would have been great, having been able to keep dreaming ...'_ He said to himself as his memories began to cycle through his mind like a movie reel, his good deeds that he had wrought in the last 3 years began to play in his mind. All the joy he had felt warmed his currently numb and cold body. _'Arima…Akira…Mutsuki...Saiko...Ginshi...Urie...I'm sorry.'_ Haise felt his body slip from consciousness.

And then, the Wren of the Halsband World knew no more.

* * *

Location: Somewhere between the Maria and Rose Walls. 50 miles south of the Titan Forest.

The sensation of the sunlight his skin accompanied by the annoying heat was the first thing he felt and forced him to twist to protect his face from the annoying sunlight.

"Nghh ... Five more minutes."

Something like a breeze caressed his face and was what ended up giving back to him. Haise's gray eyes widened as he remembered, and he hastened to sit up just to notice one thing.

"What the hell?!" Exclaimed Haise rising quickly realizing that there was something terribly wrong in his situation.

The industrial odor of the roof where he was sure his body had been mutilated by Rose while he had his mental conflict had been replaced by the fresh and pure breath of the field, for he was basically in one.

The investigator looked sideways until his gaze finally settled on where he had been lying.

A short pasture had served as his bed for some time if the crushed vegetation beneath his body served as an indication, what surrounded him was nothing more than an extensive green meadow with a few trees and elevations on the ground.

Haise, an accomplished reader, and connoisseur of his country could well say one thing: That had nothing to do with the landscape of his country, at all.

He lifted one of his arms to try to cover his forehead from the intense rays of the sun that shone in the sky, signaling noon, and almost exclaimed when he noticed that his arm was intact, and he was not talking about the one that had been ripped from his Mental 'duel' against that black monstrosity that had risen from his belly but the one that had lost in its neglect against Rose in the reality.

Haise inspected the limb and also noticed that his silver trenchcoat that almost always used the tapestry too. That completely discarded many of the theories he had in mind about his situation.

Although it was possible that his arm had naturally regenerated, this was very distant since this event could take weeks if not months to be completed, in addition to remembering that he had left the garment on the first floors of that building before the Special Class Ui [That bigoted smoker] had ordered him to climb the building with the help of his kagune to be able to intercept whoever tried to escape through the roof.

They were probably vestiges of his former, no, Ken Kaneki's personality at the time, but he had been tempted to respond. 'Why don't you do it?'

Likewise, Haise was too surprised to see there was no trace of cuts in his clothing, no traces of blood, injuries, nothing.

Almost as if they had put on a new outfit identical to his own, given the food necessary for his regeneration to take effect only to abandon him in a desolate wasteland and completely oblivious to his knowledge.

Strange, isn't it?

The ghoul investigator turned to his previous resting place only to take one last surprise.

There, right next to where he had found himself unconscious was the long tapered hilt of Yukimura, the blade was not active signaling the fact that the button was not pressed. Now completely confused, Haise raised his favorite (not to say unique) quinque and activated it, a smile formed on his face as he watched as the red vapor and discharge emitted from the tip of the handle was transformed into the long blade.

"Welcome back, Yukimura," Haise commented before turning it off and putting the grip on his belt, he had almost never kept Yukimura in a briefcase, and the probability that he could find one in those places was completely remote.

Haise looked around and noticed that the position of the sun had slowly shifted, which meant that he should hurry if he did not want to be trapped in the gloom, so he had to move to find some refuge and investigate the area.

"How the hell did I get to this place?" The bicoloured-haired investigator thought with a frown while he began his walk "Although I think the right question should be, What the hell is this place?"

 **xXx**

Haise had been walking for what seemed like a couple of hours and he could say something with complete certainty: That those places in truth were devoid of all presence. His only companions had been the few clouds in the sky and the sun that gradually began to diminish the intensity of its rays.

A drop of sweat slipped down his forehead and caused Haise to run his hand over it to clean it, luckily a light breeze at that moment and refreshed him, preventing him from continuing with his idea of getting rid of his trenchcoat.

In spite of everything, Haise could not deny that the landscape was quite beautiful as if the human influence had not set foot in that region, which could be true since it had not seen any trace of the work of the man.

 _'Wow, what I'd give for some coffee or water right now.'_ Haise thought as he stood in the shade of a tree to take a breath, taking advantage of the fact that he was on high ground scanning the landscape from there. From what he could see, it seemed that the terrain rose much more in a few miles in the meadow that stretched before it.

In spite of his calm appearance, Haise was not so calm, for during the journey he had inspected his mental landscape only to find it completely empty and even with the same pattern of the chessboard as the floor, but no trace of any of his inner 'demons' .

Although the last should have been a relief for him, in those moments even he would have preferred to have some company, even if it was his sinister past-self adopting the appearance of a child to haunt him.

Nor was he very comfortable with the fact that he had awakened in a completely unfamiliar place and in a state too good to be true. It sounded like the plot of a novel that he would surely never buy since his taste was focused on much more complex plots accompanied by rich language.

He needed answers, and soon, but first, he would have to find some trace of civilization.

Haise crossed the prairie and climbed the new slope effortlessly just to be able to see in front of this the silhouette of a creek that seemed to run through some part of the extensive meadow. In front of that, he could also see some giant boulders and clusters of trees stretching to a couple of hills much higher than the slopes he had toured.

 _'I could try to get to the hills and scan the area from there'_ Haise thought before heading down the slope, _'Sure, after taking a few sips.'_

He reached the small riverbank and leaned down to sink his hands over the refreshing vital substance leaving them to get wet, he enjoyed the fresh contact of the water for a few seconds before taking it to his face and feel as if it was moistened to contact.

Haise had always associated himself with water, the element that governed the change and the adaptation, two elements with which he was very familiar, even his own fencing movements had been commented about being swift and elegant as water, being able to effortlessly slice through a ghoul's kagune.

He started to drink from the stream, feeling his throat cool, if he had to thank for his condition as a ghoul, was that he was completely free from any disease caused by any bacteria, his RC cells were responsible for consuming any foreign organism that dared to enter his body.

Of course, sometimes Haise would have preferred to eat normal food, it was ironic that he was considered an excellent cook but could not taste what he cooked.

At least he could boast of that, he doubted that any of his fellow researchers had such a culinary talent.

Anyway, he was certain that at least his food would taste much better than the _'stew'_ that they served him as food from from Kokuria 'with love' used to say the current Warden, the sadist Shinme Haisaki as a joke, strangely Haise rarely used to be bothered by people like him, although of course, when you work in an organization full of people like Juuzou Suzuya, Hairu Ihei, Shiki Kijima and others who were not worth mentioning one got used to that.

He had never appreciated the scent of blood being shed in dense quantities, even if it was ghouls, which had brought several critics at him.

And speaking of that scent, Haise began to detect something quite bad with water, his nose, despite lacking the superior smell of other ghoul was, even more, superior than a common human and allowed him to identify some Odors. His tongue tasted something sweet mixed with the water that began to give him nausea.

And then, Haise looked at something at the bottom of the crystal clear water; A pair of thin, white branches covered with cracks and bits of a molten, rotting substance, and if that were not enough, the half-buried figure of a smiling skull looked at from the bottom of the mud.

Haise swallowed saliva and water before noticing that, the surface of the water was slowly shaking and not as a result of it, he could see how ripples were forming in this one and that they were accompanied by something else and that it was out of it.

The sound of something advancing and whose footsteps stirred the water at a distance, and finally, that same smell that stank of rotten flesh and sweet like a feast for flies, a smell that came just behind him.

Haise didn't want to turn to face whatever it was and did not have to, because there, in the reflection of the water could see the awful silhouette of what was approaching behind him; A grotesque disproportionate body supported by two fragile-looking legs, while two no less deformed arms sprouted from its sides with elongated, pointed fingers, a hunched back over what is an equally grotesque head with fleshy bundles sprouting from all sides, one Nose whose pits were easily superior in size to his hands, a pair of stupid black eyes staring at him hungrily while a wide smile revealing two rows of decaying teeth swung open.

Haise turned over his shoulder just to run into the monster of gargantuan proportions a few feet away with one of his arms reaching out to grasp it, the monstrous limb extended at the same time as the researcher drew Yukimura's hilt and activated the blade with a single thought in mind.

 _'Seriously, to what kind of new Hell did I ended this time?'_

* * *

 **A/N 2:** **And ... Cut!**

 **Well, this is all for the moment, I only wrote this to be free myself from the Writer's Block that affected me almost two weeks ago and which I can safely announce that it is finally over ,so those waiting for the next chapter of Path of the Whirling Shadow / Whirpool's Heir will have it next week, although I must say I enjoyed writing this since Tokyo Ghoul has always been my favorite seinen manga and his style is quite similar to my original one.**

 **Now, the parts of the _'internal dialogue/dispute'_ between Haise and the mental projection of Kaneki or ' _Chibineki_ ' are my interpretation of what happened in Chapter 53, when Haise finally accepts Kaneki completely and disappears leaving us with _Akaneki_ and _Black Reaper_ , which were my favorite facets of the current One-Eyed King.**

 **Returning to the point, what happened here was different: Haise resisted the change and opted to not embrace Chibineki's suicide request and even tried to fight for control, of course as we could see it did not work and Haise disappeared in a very different way and appeared in a much worse place to the Universe of Tokyo Ghoul.**

 **So I think I should make this clear once and for all: The protagonist of this story is Haise Sasaki, one who rejected his past and preferred to live with his given identity and with whom he had for almost three years instead of fully accept the tragedy of his past and his suicidal will.**

 **This is only a prologue, but later we will see much more action, although first I want to focus on creating the environment.**

 **Anyway, love this, hate it, I already managed to get rid of the blockade, so I will continue with my projects.**

 **Cheers!**

 **-Ezequiel Kirishiki- (05/24/17)**

 **Next Part: Titan Encounter.**


	2. Titan Encounter

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Ghoul :Re nor Shingeki no Kyojin or anything related with both the Anime and Manga, all those are the property of their respective authors (Sui Ishida and Hajime Isayama).**

* * *

 **Caged World.**

 **Chapter One: Titan Encounter.**

* * *

The crimson blade of Yukimura cut through the giant's fingers effortlessly releasing the flesh tendrils into the air before they fell. Haise leaped back only to see how steam began to rose form the monster's injuries and slowly, new fingers replaced the wounds.

 _'Figures'_ Thought Haise still wielding his quinque, _'Regeneration is also common here, but still, what the hell is that thing?'_ Continued to think the bicolored-haired investigator dodging the other arm before rolling over the ground.

The gargantuan-like humanoid followed him with slow movements still trying to catch him, it didn't even try to dodge the numerous slashes that Haise continued to throw at its arms.

Haise jumped back and dodged another arm and frowned at the reactions of his opponent. That did not resemble anything he had faced before, at least with a ghoul, he knew wisely that they possessed intelligence on a par with the human and were capable of the same things, only limited by society, but that 'ogre' was Only a gigantic brute who tried to catch him as if he were in no hurry.

 _'Not to mention its regeneration, with such a large body, it must have a good number of RC cells in there.'_ Haise thought while grabbing Yukimura by the hilt with the blade to the ground looking for an opening to try and attack what was probably the universal weak point.

 _'There!'_ The researcher thought before jumping, taking advantage of the short distance that separated it between one of the huge arms and landed on them feeling the warm contact of the skin under his feet.

Without losing a single second, Haise jumped again and remained a short distance from the face of the giant that opened the smiling mouth exhaling a rotten wave that confirmed the suspicion that the investigator had about the diet of being.

Before the monstrous humanoid could get any closer, Yukimura's long blade was nailed firmly to its temple and with a single short pull, it slashed through numerous pieces of flesh leaving Haise soaked with the half-boiled liquid.

The investigator took impulse from the skull and jumped, just to land a few meters behind, Haise squeezed what he could of blood and was ready to deactivate Yukimura only to hear the same sound of smoldering steam while his nose detected the smell of fresh meat boiling.

 _'You have to be kidding ..'_ He thought as he turned to admire just how the face he had mutilated was regenerating. The fleshy fibers of the muscles joined slowly as patches of skin sprouted from reddish matter, all of which emitted the same type of vapor.

Soon he recovered fully showing the horrifying face with that smile wide open, apparently, that thing did not lack the intelligence necessary to stop even with a regeneration like that, who would?

While Haise had not been at all surprised with the regeneration of his fingers, seeing how a giant of apparent human nature regenerated from much of his face and even a cut in his temple as if nothing was disturbing.

"Tsk," Haise snapped before stabbing the hand trying to pounce on him. "At least Yukimura is effective to cut it, but that regeneration ..."

It was true, despite being a B-rated quinque, Yukimura was incredibly sharp, even for quinque standards, if that tool allowed him to even cut through a Koukaku kagune without much effort, which he could do to A common human being was incredible.

And apparently, Yukimura cut like a hot knife on butter when his blade traversed the monster's flesh.

But the edge of his quinque was useless if he simply cut the stupid. Haise elbowed another of his arms again before cutting a cut into what appeared to be a deformed wrist. Blood sprout from the new wound as the monster's full hand falls to the ground.

The giant looked stupidly at his severed limb before emitting what seemed to be a grunt of annoyance and he raised his other arm only to unload a pack on Haise, or rather, on the spot where the investigator had been standing.

Haise looked at the small fissure that had formed under the fist of the giant and took notice of the strength it had. Without thinking twice, Haise deactivated Yukimura before putting the hilt in his belt and let the black kakugan's cape occupy his left eye while two crimson tentacles of his kagune emerged beneath his trench coat.

 _'Well, you have to use one monster to kill another.'_ Haise thought before extending both tentacles and shaping the ends until they resembled a pair of rams. Both appendages shot out into the immense bulk of the giant as the investigator cracked his index finger.

The giant was momentarily absorbed in the sight of the two crimson tentacles that ended up nailing in his chest causing a new surge of blood. It had no opportunity to try to detach them before a third tentacle sprouted just below its silhouette and ended up impaling it from there.

 _'My kagune causes him much more harm, but he continues to regenerate.'_ The Half-ghoul thought frowning as he manipulated his tentacles so that they quietly pierced the huge body of the beast who tried to shed in vain the predatory appendages that pierced it's body again and again from different angles like furious snakes at their master's order.

Haise noticed that the hand he had cut was fading to the ground as skeletal remains barely covered by scraps of flesh and muscles from which small fumes of burning steam rose.

' _So that's what happens to what's cut.'_ Reasoned Haise while controlling the three tentacles to merge and take the form of a three-finger claw very similar to the one he had used against Serpent and attacked the head with it.

The much thicker tentacle with the point ending in said claw took the top of the monster's head and brutally squeezed it crunching the skull as if it were an eggshell, like the ones that he used to prepare in the morning sometimes in the Chateau.

Haise wiped from his face the remains of warm blood that had come to rest and looked with a certain morbid fascination as the head slowly regenerated. Definitely, that was something that no ghoul would be able to do.

One thing was that his head was cut off, but from what he read in the reports of the SS-rate ghoul Noro and seen in the roof fight, apparently as long as the head remained intact it was possible that ...

It was over, Haise looked disgusted as the half-regenerated head of the giant stared at him hungrily, if that infernal expression could be called glance. The fleshy friars could hardly join with the shattered muscles while the pale remains of the skull tried to come together again showing huge cracks. Only one eye was formed, an orb the same size as a basketball and injected with blood.

"Truly, you are a monster," Haise commented before tricking his finger again causing other three tentacles to rise from his back and join with the rest while he released the claw that formed the other three. The former First Class Investigator commanded his tentacles to cut off the giant's limbs which they did quickly provoking the huge mass of the limbs to fall on the ground raising a cloud of dust.

Haise walked slowly toward the fallen silhouette as he activated Yukimura again, letting the long crimson blade materialize into a reddish halo.

"Can you understand me?" Haise commented as a question when he had finished climbing the fallen silhouette of the beast. He did not feel any fear of seeing his reflection appear in the two black orbs, as big as basketball balls that looked at him uselessly.

His kagune continued to prevent the regeneration of the limbs without any effort, so he was completely out of harm's way, of course, as long as he stayed away from the mouth.

The monster showed no signs of understanding the question and merely opened and closed his mouth trying to reach Haise with the little mobility he had.

The half-ghoul sighed in relief before raising Yukimura and calling two other tentacles on his back, which rose a couple of yards before violently piercing the deformed head.

He did not stir even when the blood splashed his face, in fact, he approached before one of the tentacles brutally sliced the tendons from his mouth, rendering it useless.

Haise released the rest of the tentacles and manipulated the six appendages to brutally protrude head again and again. There was no way something could survive that and to be sure, Haise grabbed Yukimura and lifted the quinque so that the blade pointed to the neck where without missing a single second, draw a long slash on the neck that creaked deafly when the bone was cut.

The deformed head, with everything and neck, detached itself from the body revealing a torrent of blood on the ground.

Almost immediately, Haise noticed that the steam that usually flowed from the wounds now appeared more intensely than the body, but it did not stop the appearance of fleshy mass.

 _'So beheading is effective,'_ Thought the investigator before descending his body and giving a look at what was left of the body which begins to deteriorate in some way. Haise watched as the flesh began to boil more intensely until it began to evaporate, something that caused him to raise an eyebrow at it.

 _'What is this?'_ He wondered as he tore off a piece and brought it to his mouth, swallowing some saliva, Haise bit something and brought it quickly. The sweet taste of the meat soon invaded his palate and ended up confirming his fears.

Apparently, whatever that thing was, it was at least edible.

 _'I wish it weren't so hot.'_ Haise thought while taking another bite of the piece he kept holding, _'And the steam is annoying, but it's the best for the moment.'_

He wasn't slow to realize that what he was holding was not free from evaporation, so he hastened to finish it just to see that the mass of the corpse was hardly covered in flesh as the previous times because he could see the ribcage clearly and parts of the bones.

Haise walked around with curiosity as he watched as the remaining pieces of meat continued to evaporate. The investigator mentally calculated the height and ended up determining it between seven and eight meters, was not sure because the head, or what was left was no longer there as an indicator.

By then he had already reached a single conclusion. Haise was definitely not in his world. And also, if it was in another where there were creatures so prowling nature, it was more logical to have to leave there as soon as possible and seek refuge.

He had no intention of spending the night completely vulnerable to the appearance of other similar creatures. While Haise hoped he could effortlessly wipe out one or even two creatures of that caliber, he did not want to risk meeting anything worse.

"Well, on the bright side. At least I don't have to worry about eating." He shrugged before putting Yukimura in his trenchcoat and starting to move away from the remains of the gigantic skeleton that would remain there, as proof of what he had killed to survive.

Haise walked through what was left of the meadow, giving a vowel to the little stream toward the hills he had seen minutes before, and continued to advance. The wind blew his black and white hair as his gray eyes turned red for a moment to detect a well-known scent.

Wherever he went, death apparently followed him and saw it in the form of a deadfield from the top of the hill.

Apparently, he had found a possible shelter but also something he did not want to see.

Numerous bodies and remains were stacked in an area of dead vegetation. Judging by the remains, they had been there for years, but what really disturbed Haise were the huge tracks in the mud, as well as the signs of destruction in the small village the distance.

It was not necessary to think too much to know what had happened there.

Haise under the hill and covered his nose preventing the stench of putrefaction continued to circulate through his system and continued walking towards the village, maybe some of those small buildings could serve as a shelter for the night.

 **xXx**

Haise had traveled the whole desolate little village in a half-hour pass, and if he needed further proof that he was definitely no longer in Japan or going much further, in his own world.

To begin with, the architecture of the place was similar to that of the West during Medieval periods and had already ruled out the fact that it was an isolated community of Europe because the latter seemed to be completely implausible.

The sun was already setting and the shadows began to creep in slowly, covering the whole plain where the village was located, whereupon the investigator decided to take refuge in the building that seemed to him more solid, which was something like a church.

That was when Haise realized the last thing he needed. For after getting through the destroyed half-timber gate, he did realize that it was a temple of some sort. Long wooden benches and a sort of podium to the end occupied the room, though far from paying much attention to that, the investigator opted to head for the door that had to the side of the bottom.

It did not seem surprising to him that it was closed, maybe the owner had left their things he considered too valuable or heavy to load and certainly did not need much ballast when they tried to flee those things.

Sighing, Haise quietly activated the blade of Yukimura before crossing the lock with his edge and kicking the door whose wood did not tolerate the impact and fell to the ground with a creak.

"What would Akira say if he had seen that?" He mocked Haise before passing through the remains of the door that creaked as he felt his weight.

scoured the room carefully and was surprised to find that it contained only a few stone steps that descended a few meters. The steps continued until meeting their end in another door, this visibly of metal that seemed to be secured to keep outside to any intruder.

 _'Or inside,'_ Haise thought, recalling a couple of disturbing reports about Ghoul Restaurants. There was a reason why he had been pre-empted by Mutsuki when he had offered to accompany Juuzou in the auction infiltration and even planned to oppose his decision.

Likewise, the investigator descended on the steps until he reached the second door and nailed the blade of his quinque on the supports of the door and shot upstairs causing it to collapse.

With a heavy sound, the iron door came to rest on the floor behind the port thanks to a slight push from Haise and raised a small cloud of dust that made the gray-eyed young man cough.

"Well, thank goodness the landlord is not here to sue me for property damage." Continued Haise resuming his habit of talking to himself. At that time even the presence of Ken Kanequinque would have been well received.

But he stopped as soon as a well-known scent reached his nostrils and set him on alert. Sniffing the air full of moisture and abandon, Haise managed to detect the bittersweet aroma of putrefaction and close enough for his taste.

The investigator firmly took his quinque while also preparing his position in case he had to make use of close combat or his kagune, which after the light meal of hours ago, was full and ready.

His gray eyes scanned the darkness of the basement while his scent smelled more signs of smell and quite close to him.

By then, Haise had already been able to distinguish the vague forms of the HB. Composite pallid walls made of stacked and neglected brick, wooden floor in which damp and deserted stains spread, which were obvious to explain, but of furniture he could only catch a couple of chairs as well as a half destroyed and stacked table in A corner next to a pile of dry and dead wood, maybe to be used as firewood.

Until he came up with the familiar vision of a third door that was just the place from which the smell emanated, he did not change his position and slowly approached with his quinque on hand, ready to discharge a knife to the first thing that tried to rush at him.

Without missing a single minute, Haise kicked against the creaking door before a gap opened between the wood and cut the remnants to break through.

Entering the new room, Haise noticed several things: It was definitely a much better place than the rest, which had been built so that the interior was preserved intact as well as the skeletal remains lying against the wall.

The investigator approached and bowed to the remains trying to find some clue. But with all the time that had passed between his death, it was almost unimportant to determine what had been the cause.

In the same way, Haise made an attempt to close the man's inexistent eyelids and lay his body on the floor, perhaps he would try to give him a dignified burial along with all the other corpses he had seen.

He turned to look at the contents of the room and arched an eyebrow. It was an alcove decorated with a couple of furniture that had a layer of dust on them.

A light four-poster bed was attached to the wall and perfectly tense, while the wrinkles on the cloth showed that it had not been used in a couple of years. An almost empty bookcase was stacked against the wall while a few volumes bound in what appeared to be leather piled up on their shelves. Out of nowhere, a rustically worked wooden desk was glued to the wall opposite the bed with a stool that seemed to have seen better days.

Of course, Haise approached the bookshelf and took one of the volumes before cleaning the cover of the film of dust that covered it which caused him to sneeze.

 _"Reste der Menschheit,"_ Read Haise while frowning. Well, if he needed another proof that he was not in Japan anymore, he had it now. It was German for _'The Remnants of Humanity'._

Even frowning, Haise began to read the content after opening the first page.

 **xXx**

Next morning met Haise, using his kagune to pile the bodies he had found, and two others, whose tips had been shaped like shovels, were in charge of digging a hole that served as a common pit.

The investigator did not look very well and the bags under his eyes served as evidence. A couple of hours of staying awake and reading the books that had been added to the information he had acquired had made him an insomniac.

Imagine waking up in a place plagued by humanoid and man-eating creatures that could reach over fifteen meters in height. Now summing up the fact that mankind now lived trapped between walls while the gluttonous giants, Titans, remembered Haise, prowled the outskirts of the fence to close their jaws on the poor men who fell in them.

The Ghouls had the appearance, and thought like humans, on the other hand, they ate them and they prevailed but never they had reached so much, they did it simply because it was the only thing that they could eat. And from what he had read, those 'Titans' did not require eating to subsist.

Haise finished putting the bodies in the pit he had dug and began to put dirt on it, it was the small thing that could do about it. But while he was doing it, he directed his gaze towards the hill from where he had descended, whose other side still had the remains of the Titan he had killed the day before.

Just to imagine the dozens, not to mention hundreds of those creatures wandering around the world made Haise felt an emptiness in his stomach.

From what he had read, it seemed that those monsters had appeared a century before, enveloping all of the humanity in a unilateral war against the beasts, which, endowed with prodigious force and a skill of regeneration, devoured without restraint or moral the soldiers who treated to engage them.

The remains of mankind had built gigantic walls, three of them exactly to keep the beasts from scratching and stay safe while the rest of the world was dominated by the Titans.

Haise had read a little about the history of that century, in which basically the remains of the humanoid had remained trapped in the same cage that they had created but were unable to leave because of the Titans waiting hungrily in front of the walls waiting for the opportunity to get in.

Or rather, they had stopped waiting.

The man he had found dead in the room was none other than a faithful devotee of something called the Cult of the Walls, an apparent religious organization that idolized the aforementioned walls that were supposed to keep mankind safe. Haise could not help but roll his eyes as he read that, he had never had religious devotion or thought possible to have it because of his nature, but he knew how stupid it could be to make the mark of divinity something clearly created by human hands.

In the same way, he had found what appeared to be a diary, which did not cost him any effort to decipher like the rest of the books despite being in German. Thanks to the close ties that the CCG had with the Ghul Forschung Gesellschaft, it was almost a requirement to have an understanding of the language, and he was not the exception. Haise probably didn't have the language as smooth as the Special Class Matsuri Washuu but at least he understood it well enough.

Apparently, the poor man had received the news that one of the walls had fallen and a certain part of the population was moving towards the next. Instead of escaping, the man had kept all his possessions in the basement and had locked himself up in the hope of surviving and remaining in the place where he had lived throughout his life.

 _'So the day their historians feared truly happened.'_ Haise had deduced after reading it last night, but now it seemed to him simply that it was useless.

He walked towards the refuge that he had taken as a refuge and descended the steps leading to the room almost closing the door before remembering that it was destroyed by him.

The Ghoul Investigator leaned on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, letting his thoughts take over.

Just like the day before, his mind was perfectly calm, with no trace of Chibineki's sinister presence or hunger and strength that had plagued him in the past. But outside of his mental problems, there was something that worried him too. Although he had seen his reflection in the creek where he had been drinking before the Titan had ambushed him, he had not seen it clearly and the glass that he had found in a desk drawer if he had allowed it.

His height remained the same, of that he was very sure, the greasy roots that crowned his white hair had also regressed, which had surprised him since, in theory, his hair should have reverted to its original black color.

But what had really changed was his face. Though he still retained his oriental features, and his well-defined features as well as pale skin, he could see that his eyes seemed to have become slightly brighter, and his cheeks were a little more marked. But the strangest thing is that he felt much younger, more than when he was 19.

He looked like a kind of European-Asian mix.

None of that made much sense though of course, suddenly appearing in another world was not that clear as well.

Placing both arms at the nape of his neck, Haise reflected on what he had read. He still had a lot of questions and reading only seemed to increase them. Why was he there? How did he arrive? And perhaps the most important, for what reason?

He remembered that he was about to be 'erased' when he recalled his previous life, as well as that he had revealed himself and even tried to take control in case he did not know that he was indeed only one facet of the complex and distorted mind of the enigmatic horror who was Ken Kaneki.

He also remembered suffering an appalling torture at the hands of a new manifestation that seemed the protagonist of the Egg of the Black Goat on a very bad day before apparently 'dying' while lamenting for not being able to continue living his life or dream, it didn't matter anymore to him.

He still had the same question. What exactly was his purpose now? As Haise Sasaki, it was being a Ghoul Investigator who followed the orders of his superiors without hesitation in exchange for being able to live a life that someone of his condition could only aspire for. He also served as a container for the vortex of madness and despair that was the consciousness of Ken Kaneki whose will manifested itself through sinister or innocent projections, but all with the same purpose: To make him remember.

And in theory, he had already remembered everything that had lived. But in a body that was no longer, his and had finished disappearing just to wake up in this place.

He knew that Ken Kaneki's memories must have been somewhere in his mind but he did not dare touch them and he doubted he could embrace them as if they were his own.

During the confrontation with the Other, he had refused to accept that burden by remaining foolishly in his role as the dream that was Haise. And now he seemed doomed to live with those memories but far from the life he had wanted. How ironic.

It was useless to worry about all his acquaintances, it was more than obvious that the one who had taken his place was going to handle things better, one could dream, right?

With those thoughts in mind, Haise decided to move on to more important ones, such as what to do?

From what he had read, he was in a sort of long-distance plain of the Maria Wall in the South and Wall Rose in the North, an area infested with Titans since the first had fallen when a kind of 'Infernal Calamity' had happened a couple of years ago according to the diary, but had no way of knowing how much time had passed since then, because the owner had been dead for a while.

He could not stay in that place, that he was sure. After what he had been reading, it was suicide being in those areas with no one to defend himself against the Titans, although he was sure he could kill a few, the First Class Investigator could not see himself getting sick and surviving an entire horde of them.

He had also read about the government of what remained of mankind, sheltered behind the third wall, Sheela. A monarchy/oligarchy with ample privileges as well as a rigorous military system divided into three divisions, each with a different duty, although apparently all with the training necessary to deal with the Titans.

Haise had been skeptical when reading about the methods of combat but he could not deny he was impressed by the ingenuity of humanity in that world. In spite of having a technology barely superior to one of the medieval times, they had developed methods enough efficient to defend themselves against the man-eating brutes. The researcher could not help comparing one of the particular divisions, the Survey Corps with the CCG at its foundation.

If the other two walls had not fallen, perhaps it might be a good idea to go there and try to find a new life. Maybe a librarian?

No, he doubted it very much, Haise was not somebody for the calm life. Years of combat and adrenaline had already molded him into what he was, he might try to play a kind of savior by making use of his skills.

That sounded worse in his mind. As if mankind would suddenly accept the appearance of something that could be worse than just titans. Haise knew very well that the man feared what he did not understand and hated what he could not destroy.

The world where he was and where he had come from was more than enough evidence.

Haise could not suppress a chuckle. "Truly my name is at stake with this world." He said as he continued to look at the ceiling. He knew he had to leave, but that did not mean he could try to do something profitable for a couple of days, like training. It had taken some time since he had entered into his kagune exclusively since neither Division 0 had been allowed to use it, other than that he was quite interested in his new acquired ability of detachment. He knew that skill would be very useful in the future.

Whether it was against the monstrosities called Titans, or even worse. Against the humans themselves.

He could only wait for the moment.

 **xXx**

The trunk received the impact of the blade of the Haise kagune that traversed it from left to right, causing the tree to fall by raising a small cloud of earth with impact. Far from being satisfied, Haise got the tentacle to grab the trunk and lift it a few yards before throwing it.

The wood creaked as it hit the ground, allowing the visitor to see that his strength, even with the kagune, had not diminished. He had already experimented with the edge of his tentacles several times, he still could easily cut any of the materials he had found, including what appeared to be an abandoned steel blade, but that last did not surprise him, especially remembering the time when he accidentally had cut in half a Quinque Steel bar during fight.

After that, he was never asked to attend a mission to protect a similar shipment. Stupid Special Class Marude.

It had been about three days since he had arrived in the village, and Haise had abandoned his usual investigator outfit in favor of a pair of simple clothes he had found in one of the houses. At that time he was wearing a thin cloth brown shirt with some sandy colored pants while his own clothes were in the desk located in his 'room.'

He had developed a kind of routine for the moment, which included exercising a little, both his body and his kagune. Although the last thing was only cutting and lifting things and molding the shape.

This last had always been his specialty and to possess the most versatile type of RC together with a great creativity, the possibilities of creation were enormous. And all this without counting the ability of separation acquired.

Speaking of which, Haise concentrated on separating a certain part of the tentacle that had outside and allowed an expression of satisfaction to decorate his face to see how effectively it was separated before being buried in the ground.

Haise took a small stone a few feet away from his feet and threw it just to hear a crack and see the tip emerging like a red stake.

'It is disturbingly like the distance mode of the IXA' Thought Haise satisfied with the result. Maybe it was rather rudimentary compared to what Nutcracker was able to produce in life but at least it was something.

After all, a series of stakes hidden on surfaces that reacted to vibrations could be very useful weapons, but he still did not lose the hope of creating something more.

The researcher sighed as the sun began to set and prepared to return to his current residence where he was about to continue with the other part of his routine.

Read, read everything he could from the books he had found. Both on the history and current organization of humanity (or what was left) as the geography of the territory and above all, the Titans.

Even though he now knew that the beasts were not active at night, that did not mean he was not tired.

The more he read about this world, the more he noticed the similarities between his own. In truth, he wondered what had been the reason for having appeared there, but for the moment there was still no answer.

 _'Maybe it's for the best,'_ Thought the investigator as he caressed his eyes by missing his reading glasses, _'I should find that answer for myself.'_

Calmly, he put the book in its place before settling on the bed, tomorrow he would try to leave the place to the Rose Wall, which in theory should remain standing. I had considered for a few moments to go to Maria to see the desolation with her own eyes but he ended up discarding because of the imprudence, I had no way of knowing how many of the titans there and he preferred not to run the risk of being devoured.

At least in the CCG, he had never had that danger since he had rarely faced Ghouls much more powerful than him.

Of course, if he did not consider the One-Eyed Ghoul of the Auction who had used him to sweep the floor. (a nd the walls).

In short, he had already rested enough and was determined, tomorrow he would undertake the trip and try to reach the Wall in search of answers or people or perhaps something much better, Coffee.

With those thoughts in mind, Haise closed his eyes and set to sleep. A small part of him hoped that he would wake up in his hut of the Chateau but little by little it went away.

His Dream was over, there was no reason to want it again.

He had never existed. But perhaps, now he could have the opportunity to live on his own, without having to take never party for anyone else against his will, not even that of his past self.

 **xXx**

Location: Wall Rose-Trost District.

The nervous atmosphere added to the chill of the night kept the newly formed cadets in front of the podium shivering, though most of them covered them with faces full of indifference that hid the nerves that threatened to eat them, just like the beasts they had faced a few days ago.

The trainees of the 104th Training Corps were formed not far from their companions.

However, before Jean had a chance to respond, the Survey Corps commander's high silhouette made his appearance on the podium with some of his subordinates escorting him before retreating to one of the corners.

The blond soldier took a step forward and headed for the cadets who stood in front of him.

"I am the chief of the Survey Corps, Erwin Smith," The commander said, "The Survey Corps receives their policies of action from the king himself. On this day, the purpose of my address to you is nothing more than inviting you to our group at the time of your selection. "

There was some murmuring among the crowd about it, it was obvious that part was already waiting, but seeing that they had no choice but to wait until the culmination, the majority opted to listen to orderly the words of the Commander.

Erwin did not deign to wait long before placing both hands behind him and continued with his speech.

"However, you were already forced to have the experience of how an expedition will be outside the security of the walls," Spoke the blond commander referring to the recent attack in the Trost District.

"Even more," Erwin continued, staring at them. "Being recruits yourself, I don't think this sacrifice is an unprecedented experience."

"No shit." Someone beside Sasha mumbled who seemed to have memories of what had happened while the commander's words came to her. And she was not the only one.

Around him, several others began to reflect all that.

Connie looked down at the floor, feeling an imaginary weight on the back of his neck.

"However," Erwin finally continued, with an imperturbable expression on his face. "Although what we have lost in this attack has been great, Humanity has taken a step forward towards the victory we have never had." The commander spoke as he lifted one of his arms slightly and clenched his fist.

"And as you already know, we have obtained a passage that leads us to the true nature of the Titans."Continued Erwin before pointing to one of the hooded figures who seemed to be uncomfortable in that place.

"This is the existence of Eren Yeager!"

Eren swallowed as he stood still in his place listening to the speech of his commander who continued to report on his exploits and participation in the Battle for Trost, as well as when he had sealed the fissure in the wall carrying a gigantic rock using his Titan Form.

"In addition, in the basement of what was to be his home in the Shiganshima District is in the middle of the mystery surrounding the Titans!"

The expression of Eren was now completely comic, because of all the things that he had hoped would happen during the speech, definitively that was not on the list and was not the only one.

In the crowd, the reactions of most recruits were not so different. Those who had a case of a serious face like Jean and Ymir, only frowned, while Reiner and Berthold adopted surprised expressions that were completely the opposite of Mikasa and Annie who simply raised an eyebrow. Only Armin seemed to have his lower jaw hanging slightly.

'So he really wants to get new recruits ' Armin thought, while discreetly glancing around him, testing the more lively reactions of the cadets than before. 'Even that kind of information is getting available to the public.'

But his eyes widened at the commandant's next words. Apparently, this one was preparing to say something else.

"What's he thinking about that?" He wondered aloud, an action that managed to get him an stare from Mikasa who tried to ask him about it before Erwin's voice interrupted them.

"However ..." Continued Erwin, "In order to take our time to thoroughly investigate that one basement. We will need to get Wall Maria back under our control first."

It was basically one of those times when, if a lock had fallen, they would all have heard their jingling on the tiles with the quietness of the crowd.

"Is he serious?" Jean asked, but no one had the courage to answer back.

"Our objective is what I just stated." Explained Erwin, "But now that we can not use the gate of the Trost district anymore, we have only the option of departing from Karanese and advancing to Shiganshima in a roundabout way. Is now lost. "

Confused murmurs sounded among the crowd of cadets with only a select few, understanding where the Commander was going to arrive. And just what some fear, it arrived.

"In those four years, over 90% of the Survey Corps members died." Calmly stated Erwin with a straight face. "90% in just four years."

Well, if the atmosphere was already tense, that last proclamation enough to fan the flames entered the cadets.

"This is not going to work out." Murmur Reiner frowning meintars that Berthold at his side trembled a little before nodding. If the Commander's intentions had been to frighten them, he really had.

"According to our most optimistic estimates, we will have to sacrifice at least 5 times more soldiers and 20 more years before it will be possible to dispatch a large fore to Wall Maria again and even these figures are not quite realistic."

"According to our most optimistic estimates, we will have to sacrifice at least 5 times more soldiers and 20 more years before it will be possible to dispatch a large fore to Wall Maria again and even these figures are not quite realistic."

Needless to say, fear and anguish were taken over by a large number of the faces of the cadets present, and no one made the slightest effort to disguise it.

"The Survey Corps is always in search for talented members. With great loses after every mission we suffer from personnel shortage." Continued Erwin as if he were addressing a group of cadets who seemed to want to return to their homes and hug their mothers before hiding under the bed.

"I'm not going to hide anything from you." Declared the blond, "Those of you who will choose to join the Corps will have to participate in a scouting expedition outside the walls in a month from now. There's a pressing need to break a supply route."

Christa trembled in her place and a ray of fear passed slightly through her blue eyes as Ymir beside her gave him a disapproving look before turning back to the front.

"The probability of new recruits dying during an expedition to the outer lands was 50% I think .." Continued Erwin with the same straight face. "Those who manage to survive it, though, will become excellent soldiers with high survival rate."

"50%?" Mumbled Berthold with a disturbed expression written in his face.

Erwin seemed to take a few seconds' breath before staging a much more intense tone than before. "Those of you who are still willing to put your life on the line despite learning the dreadful state of affairs, stay here!"

All eyes fixed on his silhouette as he continued, this time showing that he had really reached the climax of his speech.

"And let me reiterate this again: Most of those who will decide to stay here and join the Corps Survey will probably be dead soon." Spoke Erwin with a half-frown before his voice thundered. "Listen to your hearth very closely and ask yourselves if you really have what it takes to sacrifice your life for Mankind!"

After that, Erwin only announced that he had finished and ordered those who had no desire to remain to withdraw to choose another division.

Slowly, the crowd began to separate one by one until small groups followed.

"Commander, don't you think that you intimidated them to a little more than necessary?" Asked one of the subordinates besides Eren, "That speech is sure to cut the number of our new recruits by a lot, you know ..."

Eren looked curiously at the silent commander who merely resisted not watching the group grow smaller every time more cadets withdrew visibly affected by the speech they had heard.

And it was not the only one, because below Connie and Sasha watched as those around them moved away with the firm determination planted in their faces. Armin looked nervously at those who fled while Mikasa gave them a dry look. A few feet to one side, Jean clenched his fists and bit his lower lip while I watched as those around him joined them.

 _'Shit ..'_ He thought closing his eyes. _'I beg you, don't make me hate myself even more.'_

Reiner looked disapprovingly at those retreating and stood firm as Berthold glanced at Annie who appeared to have been standing in another section of the crowd.

Each of them had different thoughts about the words of the Commander. But of them, Sasha, Connie and Jean shared a similar context.

 _'If ... I ... I do not leave this place ... I'll..Face them again ..'_ Thought Sasha nearly crying when she recalled how titan almost managed to cath her during the Battle for Trost.

Beside her, Connie felt dense beads of sweat running down her face as her hands tightened slightly.

 _'Ah, I remember now.'_ He thought before recalling how he had wanted to become a policeman so his mother could be proud and the village could stare at him in awe.

But they all had the same conclusion.

 _'We already know ...'_ Thought Sasha now crying.

 _'We've already seen ...'_ Thought Connie closing his eyes and cenching his fist frimly.

 _'Titans ..'_ Finished Jean staring at the ground while the primal fear filled his mind and was soon followed by images that did not help at all to the state of the three.

A meadow whose pasture was wet with blood and viscera as well as the body dismembered from the fallen. The shrieks and cries filled with despair cut through the air followed by the creaking and clicking of the flesh being ripped apart as the jaws of the monstrous humanoids curling their brains brutally uprooting those they had trapped.

Connie saw himself being brutally lifted from the ground by his two legs while he felt like one was crushed slightly just to be ripped out of his rennet causing a scream of pain on his part, one that did not get anything as the smelly miasma of the Titan It ended up wrapping it faster than the sharp teeth that were closed wide.

Sasha could only shout at being elevated in the same way but unlike Connie, she did not have the same fate as I ended up feeling like one of her arms was brutally ripped meintars that her lower half was bitten by the obese titan who She was trapped with no possibility of escape. His tears mingled with the blood of his own wounds, waving in vain, screaming.

Jean, on the ground and covered in blood, could only crawl in despair, seeing the horrible fate he had for his companions. His horse had fled and now he had only one of the blades in his hand. Paralyzed, he watched as both Titans, along with dozens approaching the distance had already detected him and now marched towards it with monstrous open mouths showing the scraps that had not been gobbled up.

Slowly, the last of the cadets left the yard, leaving only a few in front of the podium; A miserable amount compared to those who had been there before.

Erwin crossed his arms back as his eyes scanned those who had remained. "So, will you be able to go if you're told to?"

"We don't want to die sir!" Someone yelled.

"I see," Said Erwin walking in front of the ones who had decided to stay,"Everybody, you all look determined." He finished before turning for a moment before returning to his former position.

"Alright! I welcome everybody here to the Survey Corps!" Thundered the blond commander slamming his hand against his chest. "I salute your bravery, remember. Dedicate your lives to the cause!"

"YES SIR!" Replied all the cadets that stayed, which included most of the survivor from the 104th Recruits Camp as well as a few others form other divisions.

All of them had their hands slammed against their chests and looked firmly at the front, with Sasha's exception since she was actually crying.

After that, the twenty-one people who had stayed were revealed.

"Guys ..." Armin said gretting them, but he was ignored when he noticed that most of them were busy muttering or quiescing themselves.

 _'We're doomed.'_ Though the blond when she saw how she wanted to return to her village. _'We're so doomed.'_

"Geez, why'd you even stay if that put you on the verge of tears?" Asked Ymir to Christa who was still shaking but did not bothered to reply.

 _'I did it, I'm close to achieving the order ..'_ She thought

While Reiner looked forward with a sweaty face and did not let his thoughts were marked by his expression, Bethold was the opposite, because despite having the same position, the tall boy only turned back until I see the familiar Silhouette of Annie leaving the place. Well, not everyone had a suicidal desire apparently.

 _'Annie'_ He though before turning back when Reiner patted him in the shoulder while giving him a nod, which Berthold reluctantly imitated.

"The 104th Survey Corps salutes to all 21 of you. You endured your fear well ... You are all brave soldiers ..." Stated Erwin, "And I respect you for that from the bottom of my hearth."

Finished that, Erwin left the podium and acamino dodne were his subordinates and Eeren waiting, one of them approached waiting for orders to which Erein responded.

"Begin preparations for the 57th expedition, we will depart in a month from the Karanese District." I command a nod before the subordinate disappears leaving him with the other three.

"Escort Eren to the barracks, and tell Hangi that tomorrow she will be authorized to continue to continue her experiments with him, that woman needs to be busy with something now that her two test subjects bite the dust." Erwin continued, to which they obeyed taking the Titan-Shifter with him.

Eren just glanced at the empty podium and wondered who had decided to follow him to the Survey Corps. But while he was escorted, his pnesamientos changed towards other things, like the expedition towards Shinganshima within a month and was not the unique thing. Their eyes looked to the familiar silhouette of the Rose Wall and thought of the words that Commander Erwin had said when they discovered the bodies of the two Titans that Captain Hangi used as test subjects.

 _'Who is the real enemy?'_ Thought Eren.

 **xXx**

Location: Wall Maria-Wall Rose - Two Miles at the South of the Titan Forest.

(One Month Later.)

A red tentacle swiftly cut through the air and cut off much of the huge face that was trying to approach the tree. Almost at the same time, two others emerged from the back of the young adult who eventually decapitated the titan, whose body fell to the ground with steam being emitted from his wounds.

Haise, with the active kakugan, scanned the surroundings contemplating as two other titans of no better appearance approached their position slowly and with the three active tentacles, was able to lean on the ground and to descend from the tree where it was with ease.

He ran on the prairie towards the nearest one who hurried to see him approach. Crude error, because the only thing that received were two of the tentacles that brutalmente cut off his arms.

Haise took advantage of the entrance that these gave and hop supported by his kagune to remain a few meters near the deformed titan head and unload two of his tentacles as if they were barks on it. Extremely hard lashes, because this ends by creaking releasing amounts of blood and crushed flesh.

"Tsk, die fast." Haise spluttered as the titan's figure collapsed, raising a small cloud of dust. The half-ghoul squeezed this out of his present clothes and admired the immense thicket that rose not far from him. A wall of titanic trees that extended several kilometers towards the front , he had never seen trees of that size, which perhaps possessed these characteristics by the unique properties of the soil.

Seeing that it seemed to surround that forest, it was going to be a long time and that it was more probable to find shelter there, the investigator sighed before molding his kagune in the form of a pair of claws on which he could climb the trees.

He ignored the distant figure of the third of the titans that used to wander around because he did not seem to be interested in avenging the deaths of his companions since he stood in his place looking at him stupidly.

It was nearly a month later, according to his recent calculations, since he had left the village in the direction of the Rose Wall, and it had not been a pleasant journey. He had killed a total of eight titans counting the two he had just murdered.

Following his philosophy, Haise had tried to flee most of the time instead of offering combat and seeing that his speed was superior, had not had any problem, not even his diet had been one, since one of the titans, that had been trapped in a pit had served as food for a couple of days and had allowed the former researcher to support himself in a better way than in his days in the CCG.

Haise extracted a piece of old paper from his shirt and opened it, apparently being in what was known as the 'Giant Tree Forest' and had to repress rolling his eyes as he read the so uncharacteristic name. Apparently, if he managed to cross that, he only needed two or three more meadows to reach the Wall.

"Well, at least I will not have to complain about the sun in here." He murmured as he prepared to enter the woods only so that his blood would freeze as he heard a loud series of detonations coming from the center of the forest.

 _'What the hell?'_ Haise thought, _'That's almost like a pair of cannons.'_

And he hurried to use the two claws he had formed to adhere to the bark of the nearest tree. Haise leapt into the air before landing on one of the rams and hurried to continue jumping using claws to gain momentum.

Apparently, it was possible that there was a military presence in the forest, which meant that there were people there and that was good for him, maybe he could find answers quickly.

But when he was half-jumping, a gigantic shadow came over him followed by a loud snap.

Haise landed on one of the branches and turned around only to find the ten-foot-thick titan mole on the ground watching him. The beast tried to embarrass himself and raised his arm full of grease toward him with the visible intentions of grabbing him.

Haise snapped his mouth as a sign of disaprovement as his right eye turned black again and the familiar shape of his rinkaku emerged from his back with the tips turned into razor sharp blades.

"You guys are persistent." He commented before jumping with his tentacles behind him at the menacing for of thh titan below.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Well, what you promised is debt. At the moment I don't really want to continue with my other project and since it's being subjected to a couple of modifications , I must entertain myself with something.**

 **Before anyone comes to fuck with that, I already know that the language written in the Walls is katakana, but only by pure plot's sake I wrote that it's German, deal with it.**

 **In a week we will probably see the next chapter since I'm currently busy with real-flife things.**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **-Ezequiel Kirishiki.**

 **-(07/06/17)-**

 **Next Time:** Brawl in the Forest!


	3. Brawl in the Forest!

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Tokyo Ghoul :Re nor Shingeki no Kyojin or anything related with both the Anime and Manga, all those are the property of their respective authors (Sui Ishida and Hajime Isayama).**

* * *

 **Caged World.**

 **Chapter Two: Brawl in the Forest!.**

* * *

Krista looked down only to find the stubborn face of a titan who raised his arms in a vain effort to reach her as well as the rest of the scouts who had been positioned on the branches of the giant trees.

"Uh," She nervously tried to tell Captain Nanaba that there was a short distance and over on the lower branch of the trunk that the Titan tried to climb, "He's trying to climb here .."

"I see," replied her blonde companion, casting a contemptuous glance at the giant, "If it gets closer, I'll get out of its way, but I'm afraid it will be in a couple of minutes." Finished as she threw a vague glance into the forest.

Krista bit her lower lip nervously as she gave the captain a confused look. She was not the only one confused by the development of the Operation until them.

Not far off, Sasha squatted down, squeezing the ultra-hard steel blades tight. The voracious soldier looked at her closest companion. "What do you think those sounds are?" She asked somewhat nervously seeing how more Titans seemed to approach. "Are they firing cannons inside the forest?"

"..." Mikasa didn't answer and instead glanced at the forest for a few seconds before another detonation was heard from the depths and she wasn't the only one among the rookies who were wondering the same thing.

"I didn't notice that we carry cannons in our cargo." Reiner commented as he frowned when a second detonation sounded very far away, 'What are they doing over there?'

A few branches away from him, Ymir let a sigh out of his mouth before looking back and frowning. "Tsk, so damn noisy back there ..." the brunette commented before glancing at her right, "Hey, Berthold, do you know where Krista went?"

The tall boy scratched the back of her head while emitting a nervous chuckle. "Sorry ... No" Only to receive a huff in response.

 _'Why did I think that Reiner's sidekick would know something?'_ Asked herself Ymir but she did not say that aloud. The boy was still a nervous wreck and it would probably hurt his big heart.

But at least all of them were safe in the branches, not like two others who had been very busy evading an abnormal Titan that apparently had managed to find a way to move through the trees.

"Shit, it's turning into a quite tree-climber!" The deviant-class Titan moved awkwardly between branches and trunks trying to reach it, but the ability of both Scouts allowed them to walk away safely.

"The fact that they have the ability to adapt is terrible," said Armin after landing on a branch. "Although I'm sure it varies according to the individual."

The blond prepared to move to another branch before being interrupted by Jean's voice. The other scout seemed to have a much more serious countenance than the previous times, even his scowl seemed to have become deeper.

"We know that they are doing something inside the forest, and I think now I know what they were up to," Jean commented without a touch of humor or sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh?" Armin replied, looking how the Titan that had been chasing them before was awkwardly approaching.

"We managed to lure the Female Titan into the woods so they could capture it."Said Jean dryly before squeezing his fist, "I'd bet my life it was that."

Armin nodded. It made sense, too, that those detonations from before were perhaps the product of the artifacts they used to capture the Titan. Probably a much more effective version than the one used to keep the test subjects of Captain Hange paralyzed. He was going to say something but the look that Jean gave him allowed the blonde to assume that he had not finished speaking.

"However, there's only one reason I can think about why they only told me about this operation." Commented Jean, "There are humans in our ranks who are conspiring to destroy the Walls." Grimly stated the scout.

"I'm certain of it," Armin replied after a few minutes. "It's a question of what humans can be controlling the titans and if we assume that the ones trying to destroy the walls are also human ..." Said Armin thinking about the Colossal, the Armored and now the Female Titans.

"We must exterminate them." Stated Jean holding the hilt of one of his blades.

Armin shook his head. "I was thinking about catching them." And then he mentally added. _'We might even gain the information we have seek for so long, the truth of this world.'_

"Meh, whatever helps you sleep at night." Jean replied, returning to his usual way of acting, "But believe me, I would like to put all the humanly possible distance between these beasts and I. It gives me chills to think that anyone we know could prove to be one of those monsters. "

Armin did not laugh, his mind was very busy remembering the moment when everyone had seen how Eren came from the body of his Titan. He focused on the faces of all who had been present and suddenly Jean's comment made a chill run down his back.

"Of all of them ... There is a spy ..." Armin commented before moving with the gear with Jean following closely behind him.

"But there's something I still do not fully understand ..." Jean answered before throwing one of the hooks. "Even if we do not know who or where the spy is ... Should not they have told a few more soldiers about this operation?

"The Commander must have had his reasons," Armin answered confidently as he processed the most viable options. "Maybe he did not want to risk himself fully on this .."

 **xXx**

They could not be more right, especially when deep inside the forest. The long figure of the Female Titan was bound by multiple wires that held it there.

Several other scouts were stationed on both the ground and branches waiting for orders, including several notable figures such as Commander Erwin Smith and Captains Hange Zoe and Mike Zacharias.

Others like the Squadron of Special Maneuvers in charge of Captain Levi were in the distance.

"Five years ..." Said Eren now understanding the big picture. "Is there really a spy among us?" He asked. Being sincere, Eren had no idea why anyone would benefit from the extinction of Humanity

No one could answer the latter with certainty.

"I wonder if whoever ... It was he who killed Sawney and Bean that time." Added Eld from his branch. That seemed to have an effect on Petra since the eyes of the latter were opened wide as if it had had a revelation.

"Oh, that was when the commander asked me that question." She added.

Eren's eyes widen a bit when he remembered that time and those words that had been tormenting him the entire past month.

 _"Who is the real enemy?"_

 _'That's what he was talking about,'_ thought the brown-haired teen as he continued to look ahead. Next, to him, Olluo and Petra began to discuss the attitude of the former but to Eren, who already had been exposed by more than one month to that, it did not concern him. His attention was more focused on the figure of the Female Titan.

And he was not the only one. In the branches of the nearest trees, Erwin and his more prepared subordinates were stationed, all of them inspecting the bound figure of one of the most imposing enemies that humanity had ever faced.

"It's completely tied up by the wires, she could not scratch herself even if she wanted, Commander" Announced one of the Scouts who had operated the guns. The blond soldier did not seem to acknowledge what the soldier had said and merely looked at the figure.

"Levi, Mike, open up this bitch." He ordered without a trace of emotion on his face.

Rapid as the lightning, the two soldiers of the Corps jumped in their gear with the blades prepared to be able to thrust the sharp blades in the area of the nape or at least in the hands that covered it.

CLANG

Only to see those broke apart when making contact with the skin of the hands that seemed to be momentarily covered by steel plates.

 _'Tsk, what a problem.'_ Levi mentally groaned at that. Both he and Mike retired to the nearest branches where they waited for orders while Erwin analyzed the situation.

 _'Looks like she can overlay a part of her body with a tough layer of skin, an ability that closely resembles the one of the so-called Armored Titan.'_ Thought Erwin, then he noticed that the hardened skin seemed to disintegrate slowly as if it had been worn off. _'It seems that, unlike the Armored one, she cannot maintain that toughness ..'_

Erwin knew that the protection would probably wear out if he continued to be pressed by the blades over and over again, but they were on time and that option would take too much too, so it was necessary to resort to blunter... means.

Explosives charges for example.

Making a sign, one of the soldiers approached so that Erwin could give his instructions to bring a series of charges and place them in the hands of the Titan to be able to blast them.

"But sir," replied the scout. "Won't we risk that the blast will probably kill the person inside the nape?"

"Probably." Answered Erwin, "Put the charges a bit far from the neck, that only manages to cut the wrists."

"Yes, sir!" Said the scout leaving to fulfill the order leaving the commander alone again. Erwin's eyes inspected the enemy's immovile figure and frowned. Despite having full confidence in the equipment they had used to capture her, she could not help feeling that something was going to happen.

 _'What are you planning?'_ Thought Erwin narrowing his eyes. _'There's no way that you simply surrendered.'_

 **xXx**

Quickly, Levi landed on the head of the immobile Titan and lightly kicked the skull while on his face there was only a somewhat deep scowl.

"Hey." He sneered, "We know you're in there. Why do not you come on out? It'll be a lot easier on all of us."

The Titan tried to move her head, she obviously had heard his rant. She channeled all of her frustration onto him and tried to move her arm, to no avail much to the Humanity's Strongest Soldier satisfaction.

"If you're thinking of moving, or escaping, don't. You'll just tire yourself out." He continued, "What you should think about are the good men and women you killed today. And for what? Your own, selfish reasons? Or do you just enjoy it? If you do, I suppose we have that in common. I like killing titans, you like killing people."

Again he tried to move but it was useless. If someone had payed attention, he would have noticed that the Titan's eyes were completely fixed upwards.

"You know, one of our members has a strange fixation with the Titans. Unlike the rest of us, she's absolutely in love with them and wants to study them at any cost. Do you mind if we cut off your arms and legs to give to her as specimens? "

As she was obviously not going to respond, the captain was amused taunting the Titan knowing that there would be no retaliation. Oh, if only he knew.

"I'm not talking about your titan's limbs, of course. I mean your human limbs. They'll just grow back anyways." Finished Levi enjoying every second of it.

Then, it seemed that the Female Titan slightly raised the head and opened the mouth only to emit a sharp shriek that cut the atmosphere of the forest.

A heartbreaking sound that forced all the soldiers close to cover their ears as it spread continuously.

Even outside the forest, the rest of the soldiers had come to hear it and did not seem to be the only ones.

Levi scowled again while looking down at his feet. "Sheesh, you really startled me, there ..." He said while looking at his surroundings, 'Why did she do that?'

"Damned..." Groaned a scout rubbing his ears obviously still sore about the noise, "Was that a death rattle?" he asked Captain Zoe who currently speechless.

However, of all the explorers, only Mike seemed to notice it. Using his incredible nose, the captain sniffed the air and the essence he captures did not like anything. It was a smell that he knew very well, in fact, it could even be said that it was the first that he had learned how to recognize.

Meanwhile, Erwin continued to watch as various thoughts ran through his head trying to decipher the nature of the scream.

 _'An emotional cry?'_ He thought a bit confused. _'If it was, does that mean she's given up?' Or did she have a reason? '_

Oh, she did had a reason and he was going to find out soon.

"ERWIN!" Yelled Mike landing at his side not giving the blonde commander a chance to ask what was going on. The face of the captain looked grim, and the words that left his mouth were not better. "I smell'em coming!"

"From what direction?" Erwin asked with a troubled expression. Great, just whet they were missing for.

Mike's face could give his a run for his money.

"There's a lot, coming from ALL directions ..." Mike paused to breath, before ending, "At the same time!"

Erwin's eyes opened wide and soon he could hear them. Yes. Loud footsteps rumbled through the forest. And all were approaching quickly to their position.

 **xXx**

"What the hell?!" Jean exclaimed as Armin only opened his mouth as his eyes widened. The steps had been only a clue, but when they saw several titans who had been content to remain static on the outskirts running through the woods as if life depended on them.

"They're ..." He finally snapped "All rushing into the Forest at once?!"

However, Armin seemed to be uncomfortable for other reasons, his blue eyes filled with confusion as he noticed something else.

"Why...Are they suddenly...Ignoring us?"

 **xXx**

"What ... Are they all Deviants now ?!" Yelled Connie taking notice of the strange behaviors that the Titans were taking. One thing was certain, these were not the passive beasts that had been surrounding them under the trees moments before.

The rest of the scouts soon noticed.

 **xXx**

"What is this?" Mikasa wondered as she unraveled one of the blades and prepared to jump being stopped by an exclamation on the part of Sasha who looked quite nervous, much more than usual even.

"Wait!" Exclaimed Sasha, "Listen to me, Mikasa!"

Seeing the questioning look of the black-haired girl, the usually energetic girl swallowed some saliva before continuing.

"I've heard that scream before!" She said while her eyes reflected caution, "Back in the forest ..."

"You mean your hometown, Sasha?" Asked Mikasa. She honestly did not know why she did not rush along with the others instead of listening, but something told her it could be important.

"It's the scream that a cornered animal makes when it's given up ... "Said, Sasha, as he imagined the menacing silhouette of a wounded bear with one of his paws caught in a metal trap. "It's exactly the same ..."

Seeing that the Asian descendant's gaze had not changed, Sasha swallowed before continuing.

"I was taught to be on guard until the end of the hunt!"

Mikasa raised an eyebrow, "So, you're saying, be careful?" _'That's quite obvious, isn't it?'_

"Please, a hundred times more than usual!" Exclaimed Sasha with worry, "If you underestimate the forest, you'll die!"

The black-haired girl resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "You know, I grew up in the mountains too." She deadpanned while preparing to rush towards the forest.

"A girl who grew vegetables would not understand .." Replied Sasha before noticing her actions, "Hey, wait!"

But Mikasa had already gone ahead and began to maneuver among the trees agilely showing her skill. His dark eyes scanned the forest as he continued to move quickly between the branches.

 _'Actually...Sasha's instincts are usually correct'_ She thought while swinging _'Even when only she has a bad feeling ..'_

Sasha sneezed behind her which almost made her lose her balance.

 _'However, what worries me the most is how the others are.'_ Though Mikasa stopping on a branch to think more clearly. _'Armin is in the middle column and Eren must be with the rest of the wagons ... I must hurry ..'_ And with those thoughts, she took flight again ignoring Sasha panting on the branch where Mikasa had made the slight stop.

The energetic Scout only kept panting while holding a hand. "Hey ... wait for me ..."

 **xXx**

Back to the center column of the Survey Corps. Things did not seem to look right. The fact that a large group of Titans grew and quickly did not help at all.

"Set the charges, now!" Ordered Erwin while Mike continued to sniff the air and looked clearly worried.

"Erwin, from the east first, right there!" He yelled while pointing with one of his blades.

And indeed, the silhouettes of three Titans; Two 14 meters and one of 3 meters class were approaching the maximum speed allowed by their deformed legs.

Erwin cursed softly before beckoning. "Escort Squad, intercept and destroy!" He ordered to which responded three scouts maneuvering with their gears above the Titans only to see with surprise how the Giants did not react to their presences.

"Three Titans have made their way!" They shouted before maneuvering to hunt them down.

From the head of the Female Titan, Levi scowled again before giving a slight kick to the skull. "This is your doing, right?" Sneered Humanity's strongest soldier, "Did you have to call your friends, bastard?"

"They're getting closer, Captain Levi!" He listened and directed his anger toward the two 14-meter class Titans running toward him. "Tsk," he growled under his breath before jumping up and pushing with his team managing to cut off the two titans in the blink of an eye.

The two bodies of gargantuan fell dead to the ground with a slight rumble much to the satisfaction of Levi that manifested itself in the form of a smug smile. Smile that disappeared when noticing that he had escaped a small titan that ran frantically towards the Female Titan.

Erwin, in particular, raised an eyebrow to watch as the Titan began to bite awkwardly the leg of the Female Titan and did not seem to have intentions to stop.

 _'Are they after the Female Titan?'_ He thought before noticing the grin that seemed to have been made in the mouth of the one who was referring to, _'Don't tell me that...'_

And to make things worse. The sounds of the footsteps had intensified and soon dozens of giant figures were revealed among the trees. Titans, many titans. And they all came right in the direction of the Female Titan.

For the second time, the blond issued a curse. Truly the day could not get worse.

"All the squads, attack!" He commanded as his subordinates took flight with the blades above ready to face the wave of Titans who had already begun to invade the clearing and approached dangerously close to the female Titan figure.

One by one, all scouts threw themselves into the butchery, cutting Titans right and left only to check with horror as one died only to be replaced by three others and all were already too close to the Female Titan, a few had even begun to Discharge bites or tear off pieces of flesh brutally.

Levi, in particular, could already feel part of his face blazing because of the blood splatters that had gone there but it hardly prevented him from continuing to cut and unload slashes to anyone who moved and was greater than 10 meters.

 _'Dammit! There's too many '_ Though the short soldier before slicing cleanly the nape of another titan who tumbled ashore as he felt his weak point cut off. 'At this rate, not even the bones of that bitch will be left!'

Using his gear, he landed in one of the upper branches with the intention of jumping and killing a few more at a single blow and would have done otherwise if a rather particular vision was found with his eyes.

"What the fuck?"

A torso, literally a giant torso supported by a pair of deformed legs and a single half-regenerating arm, ran frantically until it was lost in the swarm of titans. Slowly, steam began to come out of his wounds and even his head regained along with the lost limbs.

All that happened in just a couple of seconds but it was more than enough to make Levi confused. Although that Titan seemed to come from an area where his squad most likely had fled, those wounds did not appear to have been inflicted with ultrahard steel blades.

And if it had not been a Scout who had caused them, who had done it? Or rather, what?

 **xXx**

Haise jumped on one of the branches and managed to dodge successfully the thick hand of the obese titan who kept trying to catch him for a couple of minutes.

From his shelter, one of his tentacles shot quickly managing to cut off his attacker's hand like a hot knife through butter. A pity that the victory was short because steam began to leave the stump and in the blink of an eye, the hand appeared again.

"Tsk, why does your regeneration have to be better than mine?" Protested Haise before jumping with a pirouette in the air, only to finish nailing two other tentacles in the bulging face of the Titan causing several wounds that would have killed any other being.

"And this time, be still!" He snapped before slithering behind and with the help of two other tentacles, slice cleanly the entire head causing the immediate death of the giant.

Using the same tentacles, he managed to cling to one of the branches and end up standing there as he watched as the gigantic body fell, raising a cloud of dust.

The gray-eyed half-ghoul sighed when he saw the downed body of the monster. _'Dammit Haise, react for fuck's sake It's not a person, you've already killed nine, that hardly compares to how many ghouls you've killed! '_

Thinking that the former investigator adjusted the leather strap that held the sack that contained its meager possessions and scanned the forest. His gray eyes scrutinized the trees, searching for the possible source of the canyon he thought he had heard.

 _'Nothing,'_ Thought Haise frowning, _'One would think my ear should be able to record something else, maybe I should go a little bit and-'_

But then he heard it. A deep and heartbreaking scream that felt like a real drill to his ears and that forced him to cover them.

"Did anyone stumble over a piece of LEGO or what?" Haise asked, sobbing his ears. Whatever it was, it did not sound like anything he'd heard before. Throughout the previous month, he had never heard a single Titan emit anything other than a faint, barely audible growl.

Haise sighed again as he placed his hands on his waist. "Well, I should probably not rush myself to be-" But he stopped short when his ear caught another kind of noise. One who was not enthusiastic at all listening.

Steps, many huge steps and all approaching quickly.

Emitting a curse, Haise quickly molded the two tentacles into a pair of claws that allowed him to ascend a little higher. Once safe, he looked down just to see how literally a legion of Titans ran frantically through the forest like a pack of hungry visigods and just to the place where the scream had come.

And for the third time, Haise sighed. If he had not been for a long time trapped in this nightmare, he would have wished it was only a dream.

"God, what I'd give for being at least with someone else." He commented before descending slowly and quietly hoping not to catch the attention of any of the monsters, but just in case, his kakugan was activated and his kagune was in full bloom, ready to emerge from his back in case he needed to cut something.

He moved nimbly around the branch, occasionally taking a cautious look at the sea of titanic heads that passed beneath him. Haise had once read the metaphor of a man crossing over a rotten trunk while underneath ran a river filled with starving piranha shoals.

Although in truth probably the piranhas looked like a safer option in those moments, since he doubted very much that the fangs of those animals could even inflict a single scratch to his skin.

Had it already been mentioned that Haise and the word luck rarely got along well?

It seemed that no, because ironically a bad step made Haise fall from the branch and falling just in the hair of one of the titans.

"Well, shit," Haise said before extending one of his tentacles to the nape of the neck and quickly descended managing to cut the head that fell to the ground being followed not long after by the rest of the body that managed to crush a few low-height Titans that went ahead.

Without wasting time, Haise turned with Yukimura in hand already activated and two tentacles molded in the form of claws ready to slice meat. Once prepared to face the Titans who were very likely to try to grab him just to look in confusion as the closest simply passed by.

Haise sweatdropped before moving out of the way to avoid being crushed and managed to jump safely landing on one of the thick legs of one of the Titan. He managed to attach himself to the flesh with the help of his two claws.

Grinding his teeth, he jumped again and this time landed in the belly of the one behind the previous one managing to nail brutally the sharp tips of his kagune in the flesh only to see how the Titan was still running and ignoring that a potential food was stuck in his stomach.

 _'What the hell?'_ He thought as he cast a glance at the Titan's face which remained fixed to the front without even noticing its presence there, _'No one seems to notice me ...'_ The gears began to spin in his mind as he used his kagune to climb the mountain of flesh that was the titan while with Yukimura he was able to lean.

 _'Was that cry I heard before?'_ The researcher asked himself taking note of the stupid features that the humanoids had around them. That was very strange behavior, even primal. Haise doubted that the ghoul might have come up with such an answer ever.

But equally, that did not stop him from continuing to climb helped by his kagune to reach the height of the neck where a third tentacle emerged quickly before unloading a slash that effortlessly cut the head of the Titan.

Before its body fell as well, Haise leaped backward, making a landing that landed just above the head of another who seemed to have emerged from a trance and the thick orbs that constricted its eyes rolled up hungrily as its thick hands rose trying to grab the investigator.

"Tsk, now it's when they pay attention, right?" Commented Haise wielding Yukimura before perfectly launching an arc into the air that severed the nearby hand which provoked a slight grunt from the Titan.

"Oh, did it hurt you?" Continued Haise as his three tentacles fluttered behind him like angry serpents, "Well, get used to it!" He said before sending the three appendages that were extended behind him reaching to nail in different parts of the neck as if they were stakes.

Almost unconsciously, Haise thrust one of his fingers before jumping again as three tentacles licked deeper into the titan's neck, letting out thick threads of blood from the corners.

CRACK

By means of the pressure exerted, the neck throne and the tentacles were released, releasing the head that fell slowly to the ground with the body following for a few seconds.

Haise used the three tentacles as a tripod to be able to hold himself as he slowly descended to the ground level where the appendages were dissolved by his command.

 _'For being so big, they are incredibly fragile.'_ Thought Haise with a still active Yukimura. Apparently, those were all the Titans who had entered the forest, the rest had already been lost in the woods toward the mysterious source of the howl and probably from where the firing of the cannon had also appeared, which it seemed to him to have heard. _'The safest thing would be to steer me through the trees, fortunately, only one seemed free of that influence and not several. It would have been a nightmare to try to deal with so many at once, I don't think even Ken Kaneki's advanced kagune manipulation would have helped me there ... '_

But then several footsteps distracted him from his thoughts, and at a distance from him, the silhouettes of a group of no more than six Titans, ranging in size from eight to thirteen meters, saw him as they advanced slowly and with the same hungry expression which was practically familiar to the gray-eyed half-ghoul.

"Oh, great, did I have to open my mouth?" Haise commented as his left eye turned black and the iris the same color as the blood. Behind his back emerged his kagune in the form of the classic four squamous tentacles that slowly rocked until they completely solidified, which they demonstrated pointing as spearheads towards the front.

Haise cracked his fingers again.

 _ **"So, who wants to go first?"**_

 **xXx**

"This can not be good," Mike mumbled, looking at the skeletal remains of the Female Titan. The few titans who were still alive were wrested by Levi and other scouts while he analyzed the situation from the branch with a scowl.

Erwin had already stated earlier that they had underestimated the Titan horribly. None had hoped that he would have been able to literally sacrifice everything for his mission, whatever it was.

Erwin, speaking the blond, was not far away on another branch. His eyes scrutinized the remains of which there was an enormous amount of vapor that clouded the center of the mountain of corpses.

He had already given the withdrawal signal to the Karanes District earlier and had also indicated that the wagons should be left behind.

The sound of a branch crunching behind him followed by that of the gear in use distracted him momentarily, but when he heard someone land on his side he returned to his usual posture.

"After my bluster in front of the council, this is what losses and nothing useful was gained." There was Levi's dry voice. "What will happen to us when we stroll back through the gate?"

"Think about it when we're at home." Erwin calmly replied, "For the moment we have to settle on retiring without suffering any more casualties."

 _'At least for now'_ He mentally added while watching as more steam was emitted by the true manifestation of titans in the center. He squinted his eyes at the sight.

 _'It's hard to see through the steam from the carcass ...'_ He continued seeing how the cloud was now practically forming a steam wall. _'It could also get in the way of our signal flares too.'_

But then his eyes widened as he remembered the last time they had seen such a quantity of accumulated steam. How to forget it? It had been more than a month ago and it was a little big, you could say it was colossal.

 _'Do not tell me that ...'_ He thought before Levi's voice interrupted him again.

"I'll get my squad, I just hope they have not gone far." He announced the corporal only to be stopped by the commander.

"Levi, wait." Ordered Erwin, "Replenish your gas and blades, you're going to need them."

"Huh?" Replied the corporal, "There's no time, and I already have enough, why?"

Erwin sighed, there were times when the last letter had to be used. Precisely because of lack of time he could not fully explain it.

"That's an order, follow it."

Levi's scowl disappeared but his gaze did not dry. He nodded as he fired the hooks of his gear.

"Yes, sir ..." He nodded before leaving gas-driven. Before his figure was lost in the branches, Erwin could hear something else.

"Erwin ... I'm going to trust your judgment."

Erwin also wanted to believe in that, for he just sensed that something was going to happen and it was not going to be any good. Oh, how right he was.

 **xXx**

(Other parts of the Forest.)

The smoke signals rose above the treetops and could be seen from the numerous points where the rest of the soldiers were stationed.

"Withdraw," Muttered Nanaba from her post seeing the flare. She turned to the nearby scouts and yelled. "All troops fall back!" But seeing Krista's confused face, she sighed before speaking quietly, "That means get on your horse and drive home."

"..Right!" Replied the blonde before joining the rest of the scouts to move to the forest with the help of the gear.

"What?" Asked Armin from his position.

"It's already over?" Asked Jean by his side.

The rest of the survivors of Field 104th of trainees, too, asked themselves. Eyes of confusion and fear filled their faces as they hurried to follow the orders of their superiors.

And they were not the only ones.

Elsewhere in the forest. The rest of the Levi Squad was stationed at a respectable height on the ground before they could see the smoke signals.

"It looks like it's over." Stated Gunther with a satisfied look on his face before placing both hands on his mouth and screaming. "Come back to your horses! Prepare to retire!"

"You heard him." Commented Olluo while wielding one of the blades. "It's time to see the bastard's face inside the Female Titan."

The rest nodded before beginning to move through the air at great speed and in perfect formation. They raced several branches along the way while the voice of Eren slept.

"Do we truly know his identity now?" He asked. He could not believe that they had managed to capture that monster.

"Thanks to you Eren," Petra replied with a quick pirouette.

"Huh? I did not do anything ..." He said a little confused. The only thing he had done was being a bait, literally.

"You trusted us, remember?" Reminded him Petra firing her hooks again to hitch a new branch. "You choose us then, and this is the result ... It's pretty difficult to make the right choice ..."

"Hey, quit pampering the kid Petra," Added Olluo a couple of meters behind. "Really, what the hell did he do ?"

Eren's eyes rolled before adjusting their course. Just when he thought he had become accustomed to everything ...

"-ther than moan and groan the whole time ... He did not do anything on the mission except serving as a bait!" Continued claiming Olluo.

 _'Do not remind me ...'_ Thought Eren giving a leap to dodge a branch.

"But in the end," It seemed to continue the soldier dodging a branch, "I must give you credit for surviving until now, although remember this boy, the mission does not end until you are perfectly safe inside the walls, got it, kid?"

"Yeah, okay, I get it!" Replied Eren, _'I swear, at least Jean wasn't this arrogant.'_

"I seem to recall both of you pissing your pants and crying like babies on your first time out" Added Eld with a smug look, "You've come a long way, huh?"

"What?!" Yelled Eren with his mouth wide open and regretting the fact that he could not cover his ears, especially after hearing the shriek that came out of the mouths of Petra and Olluo at the same time.

Petra was the first to react.

"Do not tell him that! If he loses all respect for us, what will we do, then Eld?!"

"But, it's the truth" Calmy stated Eld shooting his hooks again, "Eren, I never wet my pants."

 _'Wait, was it the truth?!'_ Though the Titan-shifter with his eyes wide open.

And on the other hand, the reaction of Olluo was not so different.

"IDIOT! And who's got more kills here, huh? That's right, me, ME!" I have yelled

"Kill count alone does not make a soldier-" Tried to replay Eld only to be interrupted again.

"Shut up asshole!" Quickly said Olluo

"Wow, did it truly spray through the air?" Asked Eren

"Yeah, you should have seen Petra's fa-"

"ELD!"

"Are you people in a fucking picnic?! We are outside the Wall for fuck's sake!" Yelled Gunther, "And for the record Eren, I never pissed myself either!"

"Liar" Muttered Eld.

Gunther looked ready to reply but noticed a black signal flare.

"Oh, that's probably a signal from Captain Levi." He said before changing the course of his gear. "We're joining up with the captain, after that, we're goin' home, so let's move!"

Neither he nor the rest of the squad noticed the hooded figure who released the signal flare before moving quickly to meet Gunther, and with the blades ready, just as if hunting a Titan ...

 **xXx**

"Erwin," Said Hanji, "Why did you make Levi resupply? We are in a hurry ..."The two leaders of the Survey Corps, as well as much of the troop, rode a little way towards the exit, had already traveled a great stretch from the remains of the Titan Female, which fortunately kept the majority of the Titans accumulated there and out of his path.

"Hange, it's because I remembered something you had deduced earlier ..." Replied the blond with a frown. His response only gained him a curious look from the bespectacled titan scholar.

"When the Colossal Titan disappeared, none saw what was inside." Spoke Erwin while guiding his horse. "You're the one who deduced that whoever was inside has been equipped with Vertical Maneuvering Gear, whoever it was, he did quick getaway using the steam left behind as a cover ..."

"But remember, I finally concluded that was impossible based on the state Eren was in when he emerged from the Titan ..." Replied Hange remembering the test she had run with the young Shifter the past month, "His equipment was damaged and even his uniform was gone. Worst of all, Eren was so exhausted that he could not even stand up. "

"The Female Titan has the ability to draw Titans to her with a failed the mission because we could not predict that "Said Erwin leases his mount," But we need to be able to make those leaps of imagination if we're going to outsmart the enemy. "

Seeing that he had not been clear enough, he went on with his explanation.

"If that 'Titan's Power' has levels of skill, then it's a mistake to think Eren, a beginner as the benchmark." He explained, "So, back to your hypothesis, if the enemy was able to escape under cover of the steam ..."

Hange's eyes widened when she realized where the commander was going, "... And had the same equipment we do ..." She spoke.

"They could blend with the soldiers ..." They said together.

 **xXx**

"Captain Levi!" Said, Gunther, as he maneuvered closer to the hooded figure who came to his direction a little quick. But when he saw that one of the trees was disappearing from his sight, the soldier's eyes narrowed, perceiving that something was not right.

"Who are you?" He asked under his breath while maneuvering to be able to have a better vision. That movement was also the last one, for the noise of the gear being used behind him followed by the metallic clink of a blade was the last thing he had seen before he could even turn.

FLUSH

Gunther's body fell like a puppet to which one of its threads had been cut to crash into the trunk of the nearest tree.

"GUNTHER ?!" Yelled Eren maneuvering quickly to the place where he had fallen before the rest of the team could stop him.

But he only found his body hanging from a single cable, his face horrified and the neck half cut. His head looked fragile that any sudden movement could separate it from his neck.

Before he could approach, he felt like a firm hand managed to grab his hood and drag him up.

"Eren, do not stop! Keep going!" Said Olluo and for the first time, the older soldier did not look cocky.

The other two stood in completely alert positions.

"Who was it?!" Asked Petra.

"It does not matter, we need to protect Eren!" Replied Eld holding his two blades tightly.

"Eld! Where do we go ?!" Asked Olluo.

The most experienced soldier groaned. "We do not have time to get the horses!" He cursed, "Head to command at full speed to any friendly forces!"

"Is that the Titan Female's 'Rider' or are there more of them ?!" Asked again Olluo releasing his own pair of ultrahard steel blades.

"Damn...Show yourself!" Yelled Petra, "How dare you?!"

 _'This can't be possibly good. If there's more of them, then that means...'_ Though Eld before realizing it. He turned forward and yelled. "EREN! Go with the Command as fast as you can! You're it's objective!, Olluo! You stay, we are going to take down that bitch!"

However, the Shifter's face only reflected confusion. 'The Female Titan? It can't be!' He though still in denial. _'I though we have captured her!'_

 **xXx**

"And if the enemy has a way to conserve strength, then that means..." Continued Hange still riding her horse.

"It's possible that another Titan will appear." Finished Erwin while frowning. "We can't take any chances with this one."

And then, a lightning bolt fell from the sky like an arrow followed by an explosion that resounded from a distance.

 **xXx**

With a snap, the Titan's neck broke as it was subjected to the immense pressure that Haise's kagune inflicted on him. But far from dying, the gargantuan remained in place with a stupid expression engraved on his face before the half-ghoul sharpened his kagune by severing the head of the neck in question for thousands of seconds.

The body fell to the earth raising a cloud of dust that was mixed with that formed by the steam emitted from the corpse of the Titan.

Said half-ghoul was currently panting up a branch while retracting his kagune not wanting to risk losing valuable Rc cells.

"I think those were all ." The investigator commented before deactivating Yukimura also before a detonation at a distance behind him followed by a wave of air almost managed to knock him out of place, which the First Class avoided by reactivating his quinque and succeeded in nailing it in the wood.

"What the fuck was that?" He wondered as he got up to recover his old position only this time in reverse. He was about trying to jump between the branches to find out before the already familiar sound of footsteps reached his ear. Haise did not need to turn around to see what it was, but he did only to meet another small group of Titans who did not miss the same expression when they saw him as if he were a deliciously smoked filet that he could never taste.

Haise sighed for the umpteenth time before his kagune manifested itself, this time taking the form of a gigantic blade similar to the one the Tsukiyama heir had used in his confrontation.

 _ **"Well, at least I don't think I'm going to ever starve."**_

 **xXx**

The explosion reached some of the surrounding trees saying that the wood exploded releasing dangerous splinters and remains everywhere. But nothing dangerous compared to the humanoid that had taken form in the center of them.

The Female Titan had appeared again, and this time. She was free.

Free to move, free to run and above all ... Free to chase.

And she prepared to do so by removing the fragile burnt remains from the trees without any effort and proceeded to run in pursuit of her prey.

A certain young shifter surrounded by his squad that was currently paralyzed and had his mouth wide open.

"Damn you!" Said Eren maneuvering to gain some height before raising his hand to the height of his mouth. "This time, I'M KILLING THAT THING!"

"NO, YOU CAN'T!" Yelled Eld stopping him. "The three of us will bring down the Female Titan! Eren, you keep heading at the Commander at top speed!"

"No, I'll fight too!" Replied Eren enraged. Like he was going to let them do all the work.

"No! This is the best way!"Replied the blond soldier. "It's too risky to use your power!"

Eren looked ready to reply something only to be stopped by Olluo.

"What's wrong asshole?! Do you doubt our skills?!"

And to cross, it was Petra who finished with his reluctances.

"Do you Eren, do you have so little faith in us?" She spoke looking directly at his eyes.

Eren just stared at the ground as he heard the footsteps of the Titan Female approaching at great speed. _'The right choice, the right choice ...'_ He though all over again, but then he remembered.

 _"If we do not fight, Humanity cannot win."_

Eren clenched his fist before firing his hooks into the distance and being propelled by the gas from his gear.

"I believe my squad will be victorious," He said, "FIGHT WELL!"

He disappeared in the distance at the maximum speed that his gear allowed. What caused the Titan to hasten the pace not ready to let its prey escape.

Even if she had to go through the other three.

The female Titan lunged forward, letting some of her bangs cover her face while she advanced with steps similar to thunder.

"Okay, here we come." Muttered Eld taking off with Olluo and Petra following closely, all with the blades drawn and ready.

"YAAH!" Yelled Eld holding both blades behind, taking momentum and rising to a good height a few meters above the Titan who quickly reacted by moving her arm with the intention of leaving it out of combat with a single blow.

Eld quickly changed the direction of the gas of its gear managing to dodge the blow and managing to temporarily cloud the Titan who was surprised to see how not only had failed but now the same gas was used against her.

The Female Titan tried to use her arms to clear her vision only to meet the quick silhouettes of Petra and Olluo that descend quickly to both sides holding their blades. With a flash of steel, they both stabbed the Titan's helpless face from side to side before retreating.

"Huh?" Muttered Eren from his position several meters in front looking how his squad had managed to injure his pursuer. But his expression changed to an awe as he watched the body fall backward.

 _'We blind it, it should be in the dark for a full minute.'_ Thought Eld balancing from his position.

 _'We'll stop it by then.'_ Petra thought to herself.

 _'To hell with capturing it!'_ Though Olluo

But all three had basically the same idea. _'We'll kill it!'_

THUD

The three watched as the Titan had placed his arms to protect the back of his neck while he seemed to expect something, which was quickly guessed to Eld.

 _'Of course, it's waiting for its eyes to grow back!'_ Though the blond, _'But we don't intend to wait'til then!'_

Receiving a nod of Petra, both swung quickly towards the Titan managing to close a part under his arms in an instant leaving behind a deep wound in the muscles.

Eld landed in the bark of the tree replacing its blades with others of its storage space.

 _'We'll slice the muscles around the shoulders until it can not raise its arms!'_ He though nodding to his teammates.

Both Olluo and Petra continued their work by cutting back and forth the area indicated by the blond with equal ferocity being joined in a few seconds by Eld who had already finished with the maintenance of his blades.

And after another few seconds. The arms of the Titan fell, exposing the weak point that was the nape.

 _'Now, the neck!'_ Though Eld was going there ready to execute a slash that would give him an entrance to his companions.

 _'If we cut the muscles that support the head ..'_ Thought Olluo replacing his blades.

 _'We can get at the nape!'_ Finished Petra launching the assault with a soft blade toward the front.

 **xXx**

 _'They really are strong'_ Though Eren looking at the distance. The Shifter had followed the instructions and was outside the combat and in the direction where in theory the rest of the troops had retired, but that did not prevent him from appreciating the combat from there.

 _'I cannot believe they're launching such a coordinated attack without saying a word ...!'_ Continued to watch Eren with awe. As much as they argued, he did not think they were organized in combat, or at least, that organized.

Maybe it was because they had too much confidence in each other. This is how they had overcome several difficulties. And also the reason why they were so strong, even after losing Gunther.

Just thinking about his comrade's death made Eren want to get a chance to give a few shots in his titan form to the Female Titan, but he kept reminding himself that his remaining teammates were taking over.

 _'I'll keep moving then'_ He said to himself. _'Without looking back, I have faith in them'_ He thought completely reassured about it. He had made the correct decision, he was sure he would not regret anything after-

FLOCH

The sound of flesh ripped from the bark and the horrible click of a pair of teeth closing abruptly heard itself in its position.

 _'What?!'_

 **xXx**

 _'W-wha-?'_ Tried to think Eld before the jaws of the Titan Female brutally closed tearing off his body in two.

"ELD!" Yelled Petra, "It has not been 30 seconds, there's no way it can see already!"

As if mocking the statement, the Titan tilted her head showing the newly regenerated left eye that was completely focused on her.

"Just one eye ?!" Petra again with her face completely covered by horror. "H-how can-that y-you ?!"

Then she noticed how the Titan was starting to run towards her with clear intentions, so she tried to escape by means of her gear but it was useless to the superior speed of the Titan that seemed to be reaching her.

"Petra, get higher, quickly!" Yelled Olluo completely terrified. Gone was the smug attitude, replaced with pure primal fear.

And that deal, but as he did, the Titan took momentum before jumping with the leg extended and directed towards the figure of Petra who in spite of his best efforts, could not avoid the impact.

SPLUTCH

Both the column and the bark thundered brutally while receiving the powerful impact. The blood ended up staining the last minute that Petra's leather fell suspended but still attached to the trunk where it had found death.

Olluo breathed breathlessly, his eyes wide open, without much thought, he darted behind him wielding both blades before descending, drawing a knife to the nape of the neck.

"DIE !" He yelled before stabbing both blades with all their strength in the supposed weak point just to make his heart turn when he heard the leaves split up with something that seemed to be extremely hard.

"H-how ?!" He said, "The blade won't go through-!"

He never got to finish that sentence before the titan's leg was stuck in his back and sent him flying towards the hard bark of another trunk where his skull broke leaving a trickle of blood in his wake.

And that was the scene that Eren came to. Their eyes were wide open, but they did not look at the corpses of their fallen comrades, they did not look at the clearing where they had found their deaths. They were completely fixed on one thing.

 _'I'm gonna ... Kill you.'_ Stated Eren with a lost look while raising his thumb at mouth's height. **_'I'm going to FUCKING KILL YOU!'_**

An explosion far more thunderous than the previous one appeared in the clearing achieving even that a pair of trees suffered serious damages by the energy wave. Rays seemed to sprout from the same air and danced around a bright nucleus which expanded into large bones that quickly covered themselves with more complex tissues and muscles until they revealed the titanic form of Eren covered with clouds of burning steam.

The gigantic avatar fell on top of the Titan Female with an arm ready to discharge a devastating blow while his mouth opened revealing two rows of sharp teeth and a long tongue.

And accompanied by a thunderous roar that resounded throughout the forest.

 **xXx**

 _'That voice ...'_ Mikasa after hearing the roar. _'Eren!'_ She finished before throwing herself into the thicket maneuvering with her gear and ignoring Sasha's calls to stop.

 **xXx**

 _'That can only mean something ...'_ Though Levi, already with his gas and his blades recharged. His eyes scanned the forest before he rushed for the Shifter and whatever it was that he was fighting, even though he knew it at that point.

 **xXx**

"Another?" Haise asked before dodging the hand of a Titan with a few extra pounds. The half-ghoul had been able to stand up despite the impulse of the second explosion that had managed to distract the majority of his attackers, of whom only one remained standing since the others had already perished because of the right thrusts in their necks supplied with Yukimura or the slashes received by his kagune.

Haise jumped using two tentacles as a support that went to dive into the skull of the titan who tried to remove them stupidly without any progress, something that Haise took advantage to sever the skull with the extended blade of his quinque.

With a much wider opening, Haise leaps back to land on the half-regenerating head where he succeeded in crawling to the back using his tentacles to cleanly cut off the grotesque head, thus ending the life of the disproportionate humanoid.

The investigator stood among the remains with his active quinque and kagune and used the last to quickly climb the trunk of a tree and run between the branches. Whatever he had heard, he had to investigate.

He needed answers, and what better than anyone who could speak?

But what stopped him in the dry was the deep roar from the deepest. A primal expression indicating the premonition of something large and very angry. It was the antithesis of the hurtful groan that had heard near the entrance of the forest, the same one that had attracted the horde of titans.

Haise gulped before showing a more serious expression. Whatever was waiting there, something told him that he was in another league than the common titans he had exterminated for a month.

Haise gripped Yukimura's handle firmly before continuing to leap. He was not going to be intimidated easily, he was going to fight his way if necessary. And his hybrid nature combined with his intellect could guarantee him the advantage.

 _'I'm not afraid, I've seen worse things.'_ He thought while leaping from branch to branch. Hopefully, he wasn't going to arrive late.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Well, a month and more than six days. I feel very bad for having updated this after that, so I used the last six days to lengthen this a little more.  
**

 **Yes, I know that it does not compensate those who have been waiting for a while but it is the least I can do. Seriously, I'm very sorry.**

 **Anyways, the next chapter we will see how Eren is defeated by Annie as well as the confrontation that the latter will have with Levi and Mikasa, joined by a third party: Haise.**

 **From there, the story will take a more intense course that will probably end after the Return to Shinganshima Arc. Caged World is just a small experiment for another large-scale TGxSnK project that will come in a few months, but that does not mean that I'll neglect this story.**

 **Many thanks for all those who have left a review and placed this story in Favorites or Follow.**

 **Cheers, and see you all in the next chapter!**

 **-Ezequiel Kirishiki -(13/07/17)-**


	4. Announcement

It has been more than a year and six months since I uploaded the last chapter, hasn't it? I think that the title of this update it is more than enough to tell about what does this means.

Honestly, I'm feeling like a jerk right now for doing this but I don't think it is just fair to keep this as a cruel tease of something that will never happen, so I have to do it.

I'm formally discontinuing this story. Why? To be fair, I answered that to a reviewer last year but that answer has now changed due to several factors that I'll explain right now.

As I stated in one of my A/N, one of the main reasons why I started to write this fanfiction was due to a lack of good crossovers in the Tokyo Ghoul/Shingeki no Kyojin section and also, after seeing how :re was getting worse and worse. When I started the first chapters, I was oddly satisfied at my attempts and would have continued if not for a few things:

I had already planned more or less a storyline that would eventually connect with the recent chapters of the SnK manga and that I was going to write until I began to have some doubts about how to handle the universe and the intrusion of Haise Sasaki on it.

That culminated with me seeing the original idea as something too simple and without much merit. ('A Haise Sasaki in SnK's World' Fic ')

And to make things worse, I found in Wattpad an X-Over AU of both universes that looked promising, not because of the plot itself, but because of the route, it took.

That gave me better ideas of how to do an X-over of TG and SnK, with this one taking advantage of both worlds. An idea that I really did not see how to introduce in Caged World and that made me feel disappointed about my original effort (I hardly consider myself a writer, let alone a decent one).

However, due to my entrance to college last year, I did not have time to plan anything, let alone write something and now, here we are, with me typing this as I wonder if I will ever know the true extent of my arrogance.

The last point is due to how big of a fool I was to think I could write something well in English when I don't even write well in my mother tongue. If I was a stubborn person, I would have simply keep writing this without care of how both series have advanced, but I'm not.

Shingeki no Kyojin I still continue to enjoy and I'll look forward to the Grand Finale. But Tokyo Ghoul? Honestly, I followed the series for like six whole years and was totally satisfied with the end of Part One, because it gave us exactly what it was stated in the beginning: a Tragedy.

:re I liked it up to the Rushima Arc. I don't think I'm the only one out there that was hyped about Kaneki becoming the One-Eyed King and having his own group, only for him to basically mess up everything by repeating his past mistakes, getting turned into godzilla and getting magically his happily ever after. Jeez.

I'm not going to talk about the ending, because it would be a rant that would occupy like 90% of this note, seriously.

But anyway, seeing how it ended has made me not really want to continue this as well as totally avoid most Tokyo Ghoul-related things, that includes the :re Anime Adaptation that is totally giving a run for its money to Root A, which is something that I never believed it could happen given how awful it was. In fact, the only things that keep most of my interest and love for the series are actually in this site in the form of a couple fanfictions that I enjoy and I'm looking forward to seeing them one day be completed.

Now, I still have that plot about what would have become Caged World's remake and honestly, I still kinda want to do it, but seeing just how vast is the difference into imagining something and writing it, I really don't have the confidence to actually do it on my own.

If someone is interested in knowing how this (Caged World) was going to end or also about what was going to be the plot of its remake, they are free to send me a private message. Same applies for those who want to give a hand into trying to 'revive' the story, I would really appreciate that.

Thanks to all those who added this to favorites, followed and left reviews. Again, I'm really sorry.

\- Ezequiel Kirishiki (12/12/18).


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